Held
by NewHampshireGirl
Summary: Being a federal agent and a single father of a toddler poses all new kinds of problems and adventures for Tony. Sequel to "Safe and Sound", AU, Tony/Gibbs father/son, Tiva friendship only. Second story in the "Raising Kaitlin" verse.
1. Revelations

**Disclaimers:** I do not own NCIS or its characters. Those belong to CBS and show creators. I'm just borrowing them.

**Warnings:** Spoilers for "Borderland"

**A/N: **Here is the first chapter to the sequel for "Safe and Sound". It starts about three months after Kaitlin's birthday. I hope you enjoy it just as much! Please let me know what you think and Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers!

* * *

**Held**

Kaitlin DiNozzo had learned the word _no. _And it was her response to almost everything her father asked her to do. Her language had blossomed in the last three months. She was trying to talk to everyone and everything and she parroted him even more now. Generally, she was just curious about her world.

It made life more difficult for Tony, that was for sure. Every time he turned around Kaitlin was trying to get into something, despite the house being baby proofed. He was exhausted at the end of each and every weekend and he thought about the stack of nanny applications on his desk that he should be going through to get a live-in nanny. Abby had taken her a couple of weekends to give him a break, but she was in Mexico this week and he was sure she didn't want to be taking care of a toddler when she got back. Tony was just going to have to power through this next phase of his fatherhood... and find a nanny in the process.

"Dada," Kaitlin called as she came into the kitchen, her stuffed penguin at her side. "Cookie?"

"Eat this first," Tony told her, handing her a piece of cheese. He'd found bribing her with cookies got her to eat her lunch. Did that make him an awful father?

Kaitlin gobbled down her slice of cheese and then turned her eyes towards him. "Cookie?" she asked, sweetly.

Tony reached into the cookie jar and fished out an Oreo. He broke it in half and handed her one. She plopped down onto the tile floor and ate her treat, which had been discovered recently to be her favorite.

Behind her father the backdoor opened and Gibbs stepped inside, carrying a newspaper and a case file. Kaitlin smiled up at her father's boss and waved her little fingers, "Hi Ibbs."

Gibbs reached out and ruffled her hair, making her giggle. He dropped the newspaper and the case file onto the kitchen island and sat down at stool. "Got any coffee around here, DiNozzo?"

"Ah, yeah," Tony replied, pouring his boss a fresh cup. "What are you doing here on a Sunday?"

"Picked your Sunday paper up off the back step."

"Thanks... is that the only reason you stopped by?"

He shook his head. "No," the team leader said, simply. "Something about this case is bugging me. Wanted to pick your brain."

Tony nodded and went to sit next to Gibbs at the island, but Kaitlin stopped him by screeching, "Dada! Cookie!" He remembered that he had the other half of the Oreo in his hand. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath and handed her another slice of cheese, which didn't go over well at all. She screamed and stomped her feet for the rest of her cookie. He reminded her to eat the cheese first.

Gibbs chuckled to himself as the toddler shoved the whole slice of cheese into her mouth, causing Tony to jump off his stool and scoop about half of the cheese out of her mouth into a napkin. He reached for the half of cookie on the counter and handed it to her. "It's Sunday... nothing wrong with an extra treat."

"Yeah," Tony grumbled as he tossed out the napkin and went to wash his hands. "This toddler stuff isn't fun."

"No one said it was," Gibbs replied, leaning down to pick Kaitlin up off the floor. He settled her into his lap. "Just remember... she's worth it."

Kaitlin finished her cookie and with a little finger pointed to the plate of lunch meat and cheese on the counter. "Dada... eese?" she asked, wide eyed.

Tony grumbled and handed her a piece of cheese, watched as this time she took bites. When she finished the cheese he handed her bites of cut-up turkey and shook his head as she ate that with no complaints. If he survived the toddler years it was going to be a miracle. "So... what did you want to discuss?"

Gibbs pulled out the case file and flipped it open. "You and Erin talked to the bartender Friday, right?"

"Yeah. She seemed concerned that someone was killing her patrons. Was willing to talk to us privately," Tony said with a shrug. "Why?"

"Had the victims names run through AFIS," Gibbs said. "All ten were suspected of dealing drugs and were on the DEA's watch list."

"Called the DEA yet?"

"Meeting with them in the morning."

"But that's not what's bothering you..."

He smiled, it was the whole reason that Gibbs had come here. Tony just knew him, knew that something was bugging him and it wasn't the obvious that all their victims were drug dealers. "No. That's not what is bothering me. Collins had his feet removed before he died. And he wasn't killed with poison."

Tony paused while he ate his sandwich. "Killer changed his MO. That's unusual."

Gibbs nodded. "Uh-huh."

"Dada," Kaitlin interrupted them. "Juju?" she asked pointing to her sippy cup. Tony handed it to her and she sucked her apple juice down.

"If all ten of those guys were poisoned instead of Collins... are we looking at a copy cat?"

"Or someone trying to make it look like he was killed by a serial killer."

Kaitlin turned in Gibbs' lap and looked up at him, still drinking, her hazel eyes locked on her _grandpa. _He felt his gut tingling with a fear that he wasn't sure where it came from. Gently he smoothed her hair back and kissed her forehead. It was probably the stress of the case, the lack of sleep because they were down an agent while McGee escorted Abby to Mexico... he was being a worry-wort, wasn't he?

Tony must have seen the distress in Gibbs' eyes, he put his sandwich down and asked, "Everything okay, boss?"

Gibbs shook his head and shrugged it off, giving the toddler one more kiss. "It's fine. Stress."

"Sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"Nah. I'll be fine. Besides... taken up your time with your daughter."

"Almost time for her nap."

"No! No nap!" Kaitlin sputtered before she burst into tears.

Tony got up off his stool and took the toddler from Gibbs' arms and smirked, "See... naptime," he teased as he carried the sobbing toddler upstairs to her room. She was asleep by the time he laid her in her crib and with an exhausted sigh, Tony made his way back downstairs. He was happy that Gibbs was still there because something was obviously bothering the boss. "Got a couple of hours before Cyclone Kaitlin wakes up... need to talk?"

Gibbs shook his head and sipped his coffee. "Told you. Stress."

He wasn't buying that for a second. Something was tingling on Gibbs' radar because normally he wouldn't just stop by wanting to talk shop. "You wouldn't happen to be checking up on me and Kaitlin now would you?"

"Nope."

"Boss..."

"Promise, Tony," Gibbs said, ending the conversation. "If there's something you need to know... I'll bring you in the loop."

* * *

Despite his upset stomach, McGee needed to speak to Tony... and speak to Tony alone.

On their way out that evening, Tony mumbling about how he had to get to the daycare center to bring home a raging toddler, McGee made his move. "Tony, I need to talk to you."

Tony sighed and nodded his head. "Yeah. Guess I can talk.. means I can get less time with a screaming kid. What's up?"

"It's this whole cold case that Abby brought back from Mexico. We're headed it by the government and then a drug dealer happens to show up, with the bullet from the very crime... it seems a little too..."

"Coincidental."

"Yeah."

He sighed and rubbed his temple. "Reynosa cartel is one of the most powerful cartels in all of Mexico. What does a dead drug dealer mean to them? From decades ago?" Tony raised his eyes to look at McGee. "What was the drug dealer's name?"

McGee paused for a moment, and then said, softly, "Pedro Hernandez."

Tony was sure he'd heard that name somewhere before... of course it was a popular hispanic name, maybe it was nothing, but judging from the look on Tim's face, he knew he wasn't that far off base. "Why is the Mexican government so interested in this cold case being solved? I doubt they'd care much for a drug dealer's killer."

"Well, that's the thing, Tony. I did some research. Pedro was the head of what is now known as the Reynosa cartel. Paloma was his daughter," McGee said, stiffly.

"She wants to find out who killed her father," Tony surmised.

"Yeah. Here's the other piece that Abby didn't want me to find out about... Pedro Hernandez shot and killed a U.S Marshall assigned to protect Gibbs' family."

"He caused the car accident that killed Shannon and Kelly."

"Yep."

"Son of a bitch," Tony cursed under his breath. He began to pace the small area in the elevator. Suddenly he was sitting on Gibbs' porch, Kaitlin in his lap, trying to coax some information out of Gibbs about the car crash that had killed the former marine's family. Tony glanced at McGee. "What kind of bullet was used?"

McGee licked his lips and Tony persisted. "Same kind that was commonly used for marine snipers back at the time Pedro was killed."

Tony felt his face pale. His hands shook slightly. Gibbs had killed that man in revenge. Was it right? Probably not... but now that he was a father himself, Tony could understand why the lead agent had done what he'd done. He'd want the same kind of justice if someone were to hurt his daughter. "You don't tell anyone what you found, Tim, got it? Not Erin, not Ducky or Jimmy... not even Abby."

"We... we have to say something..."

"No! No we don't!"

"Tony..."

"I am not about to send Gibbs to jail!"

Silence fell over the cab. McGee stood there looking sympathetically at Tony. It had to hurt, just a few months shy of sending his biological father to jail... to now face the possibility of sending Gibbs to jail as well. "I'm sorry, Tony," he whispered. "But if someone asks me... I... we can't lie. We'd lose our jobs... and what about Katie? Do you really think Gibbs would want you to go to jail over him?"

Tony swallowed the bile in his throat. "No," he whispered, "I just... I just can't be the one to send him." But it was starting to look like he was going to be the one to send his mentor to prison... and that was killing him inside.


	2. Special Agent Macy

**Warnings:** Spoliers for "Patriot Down"

**A/N:** Hello, everyone! Here is the next chapter. It's been cold here so all I want to do is sit on my sofa, wrapped in a blanket listening to music and writing. Look for another update in the next couple of days :) Until then, enjoy!

**Ginger-** _Yes, Tony certainly has his hands full haha._

**Guest-**_ I'm happy that you loved "Safe and Sound" and I hope you love this one just as much! Of course it's going to work out... I mean... it wouldn't be much of a father/son story if I sent Gibbs to jail lol_

* * *

Special Agent Lara Macy was dead. Her body had been found by partying Naval Academy graduates who had burned her body in their bonfire.

Tony rode in silence on the way to the crime scene. He hadn't met Macy, Tim had last year when he'd been out in Los Angles. Sometime since that visit and now, the special agent that had been in charge of the L.A team had gone to France. And she had ended up dead on a beach in Maryland.

As if tension wasn't already high with Abby walking on eggshells around them all, and Gibbs keeping quiet about the cold case... now they had to add a dead federal agent to the mix. Tony took a deep breath of the salty air as it rushed into the windows of his sedan. Erin sat quietly besides him. She hadn't said anything to him yet but Tony knew she was aware that something was going on behind the scenes. But Erin wasn't nosy when it came to the people she worked with and she kept a reasonable boundary. Given all the past history with boundaries being crossed in the past with Ziva... Tony was glad that Erin wasn't the type.

He parked the car just outside the crime scene and got out, pulling on his ball cap. Local police had already sectioned off the area and Ducky was hard at work. Tony took a few sure strides, flashing his badge at the LEO's and stepped over the crime scene tape. "Hey, Ducky, sorry we're late," the senior field agent said, "Kaitlin wasn't in the mood to go to daycare today."

"Quite alright, Anthony," Ducky said, with a smile. "I only just got here myself."

"Where's Gibbs?"

"He and Timothy went to interview the poor sailors that discovered this body."

Tony looked over in the direction that Ducky indicated Gibbs had gone and saw the lead agent speaking to a rather grey looking young kid. He smiled to himself. Seniors. He recalled how packed the drunk tank in Baltimore would get in the middle of May.

Erin broke him away from his memories by asking, "Ducky, how did Special Agent Macy die?"

Ducky clicked his tongue. "Well, she certainly didn't burn to death."

"She was dead when she was lit on fire?"

"Yes. It appears that the body was dumped here and then those poor sailors lit her on fire as a part of their graduation celebration."

"Left out in plain sight. Someone wanted her found, despite almost stripping her of her identity."

"It would appear that way, Anthony."

Tony licked his lips. He really didn't like where this was going. If someone had killed Macy because of a dispute or case they probably would not have gone to such lengths to leave her body out in the open. The killer was taunting them. Which meant they could have a serial killer on their hands. Just how he wanted to start a case off... and with a new nanny starting tomorrow... it was going to be a long few days.

Gibbs was making his way back towards them, his blue eyes staring right at Tony and the senior field agent saw that same look he'd seen when Gibbs had stopped by his house the other day. Something was bothering him and it wasn't just the cases they were working.

"Hey, boss," Tony greeted, trying to sound light. "Sorry that we're late..."

"It's fine, Tony, Kaitlin's been giving you a hard time about daycare all week."

"Yeah... she certainly has a mind of her own."

"Nothing wrong with that."

"What do you want us to do?"

Gibbs shook his head. "Go back to NCIS. See what Macy was investigating. We're done here."

Tony shot Erin a look for a second. "Do you think this is related to a case she was working?"

"She wasn't supposed to be in the area. Just got off the phone with the Director... she asked for leave. He thought she went to visit her mother."

"But... obviously she didn't."

"No," Gibbs replied.

Tony opened his mouth to say something but closed it quickly. Nothing he could say was going to erase the guilt in Gibbs' eyes. Which, led him to thinking... why was the boss so guilty about her death? It wasn't like Macy was on their team... and she was not the first agent's death they had investigated before where the team had no connections. Unless...

Erin elbowed him suddenly. "Hey. Pay attention or Gibbs is going to head slap you," she ground out between clenched teeth.

He shifted his gaze towards Gibbs, who was giving instructions. Erin and Tony were to look into what cases Macy were working while Gibbs went to pay a visit to her mother, in Maryland, with Tim. He wanted Tony to have answers by the time he returned. "Sure thing boss."

"DiNozzo, get in touch with her team in France too," Gibbs ordered. "Maybe they know something about why she was here."

"Boss... there's a possibility that this has nothing to do with France... maybe Los Angles?"

"I'll get in touch with Callen. You stick to digging your nose in her cases."

Tony sighed and nodded. "Got it, boss."

Gibbs stalked away and Ducky voiced what they all were thinking, "His mind has not been in the game for sometime now... ever since Timothy and Abigail got back from Mexico. Something is going on."

"Did you finish that autopsy for that cold case?" Tony asked, softly.

"Yes. Our drug dealer was shot by a long range sniper to the temple. Death was instant," Ducky replied, glancing up at Tony. "Has Gibbs said anything to you about that cold case she brought back?"

Tony shook his head. "No. Neither has Abby."

Palmer frowned. "Abby hasn't been herself since they got back from Mexico."

Erin shifted nervously on her feet. "Do you think... this is all related?"

"Related?" Tony, Ducky, and Palmer asked at the same time.

"Yeah. It just seems a little too coincidental to me that Abby gets a cold case about a dead drug dealer, we then investigate a series of murders by a large cartel in Mexico and now an NCIS agent is found murdered... her body dumped like... well... like a drug cartel with a vendetta would do," Erin replied.

"Guess we're going to have to find out what Macy was investigating," Tony said, walking away. Sighing, he realized that they were facing a Pandora's box. He just prayed they had not opened it.

* * *

Abby was frustrated but not with the case. She had found a lot of evidence that her machines were processing at that moment, but Gibbs was refusing to talk about the elephant in the room. Her report for Alejandro Rivera was ready to go but it was that same report that was eating at her.

It was the report that was going to send Gibbs to a Mexican jail.

She thought about going to Tony or to McGee... maybe they would be able to reason with her, tell her that it was going to be alright... even if she did follow the law and send the report.

"Got anything for me, Abby?" Tim asked, striding into the lab. "Gibbs is getting ornery... only Kaitlin is rivaling him at this point."

"Special Agent Macy's throat was slit with a knife that is issued to the Army," Abby reported, sullenly. "She wasn't killed at that bonfire site. I found no traces of blood in the grass or surrounding areas."

Tim sighed and leaned against the table. "Gibbs thinks this was a professional hit. Tony and Erin went to speak to that Petty Officer that Macy was calling... it really is a dead end. While that kid probably raped her... Tony doesn't think he murdered Macy to cover it up."

Abby chewed on her lower lip. "Yeah. So the question is... who wanted Macy dead?"

"I don't know. But she had a history with Gibbs."

"I know. She was an MP while he was a marine."

Tim blinked rapidly for a second. "Abs," he whispered, hoarsely, "The missing journals from Lara's mother's home... the dates... can you cross reference them for me..."

Abby was confused but nodded her head. "Yeah... shouldn't take very long if I know what I'm looking for."

"Special Agent Macy investigated Gibbs, back when he was marine, prior to him joining NIS," Tim said, softly, "Can you figure out if the missing journals were the time she investigated him?"

"Do you think her death had something to do with what was in those journals and her investigation of Gibbs?"

"Honestly, I don't know what to think, Abs."

At this point, Abby wasn't sure what to think either as she typed in her search. With a terrifying jolt in her stomach, she whispered, "The journals that are missing are for the dates that Macy was investigating Gibbs."

Tim cursed and pushed off the table. "This isn't about her cases or NCIS anymore, Abs. This is about Gibbs. Whoever killed Macy is just completely a hit list to get back at him... for something..."

"We need to find out what was in her investigation."

"Looks like it's going to be a long one."

Abby sighed and nodded. "Yeah... I'll go get the Caf Pow."


	3. Off Grid

**Warnings:** Spoilers for "Patriot Down".

**A/N:** I wasn't planning on updating so soon but I needed a break from writing a paper, so... here is the next part. Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend and that you enjoy this post! Please let me know what you think :)

* * *

Tony noticed a black sedan parked across the street from his daughter's daycare when he came to pick her up. It wasn't unusual to see cars parked on the busy street, but it was unusual to see it running with someone inside.

He glanced down the quiet downtown street. Most of the shops were closed for the night, having closed at five, and there were only a handful of pizza and Chinese places open. And since school was out most of the apartments on this street near Georgetown remained vacant until fall. Immediately, Tony felt his guard going up. He wasn't sure if it was because of investigating Lara Macy's death or exhaustion but he felt as if that person sitting in the black sedan was watching him.

And he must have made the person watching him jittery because they started the car up and drove off. Tony made a mental note on the plates and stepped inside the daycare. He'd left NCIS... and Tim... still working on the case. He sent his partner the numbers and asked him to run the plates. Shoving the phone into his pocket he concentrated on the happy face of his daughter.

Kaitlin greeted him with a big grin and went directly towards her cubbie to grab her things, pulling the backpack and jacket off the hook and plopping them at her father's feet.

"Guess you want to go home, huh?" Tony asked her with a grin, picking her up. He helped her into her jacket and grabbed her backpack. After instructing her to say good-bye to her teachers, and doing so himself, Tony headed back out to his car. Outside he still had that feeling of being watched and it unnerved him even more because this time he had Kaitlin with him. But a glance down the street didn't yield anything and he didn't see the black sedan.

"Dada... Elmo?" Kaitlin asked, gesturing to her bag where the toy was. "Pleeze?"

Tony situated her into her car seat and buckled her before giving her the toy. As he pulled it out of her bag, he dislodged a water bottle that rolled underneath the SUV. Silently groaning, Tony handed the toy to Kaitlin and climbed underneath the car to retrieve the water bottle. Immediately he sensed that something was off and climbed out quickly, tossing the toddler's water bottle into the backseat and grabbing his flashlight from his own bag.

Crawling back underneath the car, he turned the light on and flashed it upwards, revealing the brake lines hanging down, clearly cut. Heart beating wildly, because if he hadn't dropped that water bottle he never would have discovered the tampered brakes... he would have gone to stop and the car wouldn't have cooperated... both Tony and Kaitlin could have been killed in an accident. _Killed in an accident like Shannon and Kelly._

Forcing himself into action, Tony slid out from underneath the SUV and reached for his cell phone again. He dialed Tim's number. "Forget running those plates right now, McGee... someone tampered with my brakes... we need to get my car back to NCIS... _now._"

* * *

Gibbs was on his fifteenth coffee that day, or at least it felt that way. And he wasn't about to let up. Not when someone had tampered with his SFA's car. He shuddered thinking about what could have happened if Tony hadn't discovered it. Both Tony and Kaitlin might be dead at that very moment. He shook off the horrible feelings of helplessness and stepped into the garage. "What ya got for me, Abs?"

Abby appeared from underneath the SUV. "The brake lines were cut alright. Here's something interesting though... I found traces of blood on the lines and... the markings are very similar to those that were found in the wound on Lara Macy's neck."

"It was the same knife that killed Macy that was used to cut Tony's brake lines," Gibbs surmised.

"It looks that way. Gibbs... someone is out to... to get NCIS agents," Abby said, near tears. "If Tony hadn't discovered the tampering..."

Gibbs reached for her and pulled her close and kissed her cheek. He hoped that it would reassure that Tony... and Kaitlin were going to be fine, but the truth was... he wasn't sure. Until they made connections to the death of Lara Macy and the tampering with Tony's car... Gibbs had to believe that everyone associated with NCIS, this case... with him... was in danger. He turned to go but Abby grabbed his arm and stopped him.

Her eyes were hard and filled with tears. "We need to talk... about Mexico. I know that we have a case right now and that we're super busy... but Gibbs.. I don't know what to do."

"You do what I've always asked you to do, Abs."

"My job. But this time... Gibbs... it's you! I can't... I can't send you to jail!"

Gibbs shook his head. "Abby... I won't ask you to cover it up. Just do your job."

Abby looked ready to burst into tears and opened her mouth to say something when the elevator dinged and she glanced up to see Tony and McGee arrive and judging by the grim looks on their faces, she knew that they didn't have good news.

Tony took the lead. His jaw had been clenched pretty much since he'd arrived at NCIS with Kaitlin in tow. "McGee and I traced those plates to the black sedan I saw parked outside of the daycare... it was registered to a rental company and the last person to rent it was Jason Dean. Boss, it looks like Colonel Bell is out of Mexican prison and looking for revenge."

"We checked into Jason Dean and Colonel Bell, boss," McGee reported. "Colonel Bell's private jet left about an hour ago for Baja, Mexico. Jason Dean was on the flight manifest as a passenger. It was also Dean that made those phone calls to Lara Macy before her death... he lured her out and then killed her."

"And he was staking out Kaitlin's daycare," Gibbs mumbled, rubbing a hand over his face. "He cut the brake lines."

Tony licked his lips and clenched his fists. He wanted to go to Mexico right then and there and confront Dean himself. Threatening him was one thing, threatening his daughter was an entirely different matter. "If he's going back to Mexico... it's possible that he's going after Mike Franks... he's targeting people close to you boss... people that were involved in that MP case all those years ago."

Silence engulfed the garage as Tim and Abby held their breaths. Gibbs squared his shoulders at the senior field agent, not surprised Tony had dug up that information. "What are you suggesting, DiNozzo?"

He didn't back down, Tony decided that it was time to no longer remain silent. "Someone is forcing our hand... someone wants the death of Pedro Hernandez to come to the surface. I get it, boss... you weren't right in the head back then... hell, you'd just lost your family... but now... people are dying over this."

Gibbs shifted his feet and stepped closer towards Tony. "Do you think I wanted this when I pulled that trigger all those years ago? Do you think I wanted Lara Macy to die because she pitied me and made the case go away? And Mike... do you think I want him hurt because he led me to Hernandez?"

Tony's jaw twitched, slightly. "Boss... it wasn't coincidence that my brakes were cut. Shannon and Kelly died in a car crash. Dean was going to have me and Katie die in one too... to taunt you. Bell knows about your killing, knows that Mexico could extradite you and you could serve time in prison down there just like he did. He's out to hurt you no matter what the cost."

"I am very much aware of what Bell is doing, DiNozzo," Gibbs snarled turning on his heel and heading towards the elevator. "And I'm going to put a stop to it." _It ends now.  
_

He stepped inside he elevator, looked back at his team, noting the concern in their eyes. He slapped his hand down onto the button and closed the doors, wanting to drown. He would never forgive himself if something were to happen to Tony and Kaitlin... to Abby... or Tim. They were his family now that Shannon and Kelly were gone... and he had to protect them like he had not done with his wife and daughter.

If that meant going off the grid, separating himself from this case, the team, then so be it. Gibbs would face the consequences later. Right now he had to get in touch with Mike and warn him that the ghosts of their past were coming back to haunt them with a vengeance.

* * *

Erin noticed two things when she arrived at work that morning. One, Tony and Tim had not changed out of their clothes from yesterday, two Kaitlin was playing on a blanket in the middle of the bullpen. "Did I miss something?"

Kaitlin was the only one that looked up at her and smiled. "Hi, Aunnie Rin," she greeted, sleepily. His daughter's voice caught Tony's attention and he looked up, grimly.

"Oh, this doesn't look good," Erin mused, setting her bag down by her desk. "What's going on?"

"Someone tampered with my car last night. Brake lines were cut."

"Do you know who?"

"Jason Dean."

Erin knew that name. She ran through all their cases in the last year and startled when she came to the realization why she knew that name. "He worked for Colonel Bell... he was a former Army Ranger."

Tony nodded and stood up, hitting the remote for the plasma. Jason Dean's picture lit up the screen. "We think that Dean is working under the orders of Bell to extract some kind of revenge on Gibbs. Bell spent time in a Mexican jail... he believes that Gibbs killed a Mexican drug dealer. By killing Macy, Bell is forcing our hand. If he had succeeded in killing me and Katie it really would have forced our hand."

Tim stood and joined them. "Bell is in Mexico now. We think he's going after Mike Franks."

"He's killing everyone that Gibbs' cares about."

"Looks that way."

"So... none of us are safe?"

"Probably not."

Erin let that sink in while Tony's phone rang, loudly. The senior field went to answer it and his partners stood there, watching the color he had left in his face drain. When he slammed the receiver down, Erin found her voice before Tim and asked, "Tony? What's going on?"

Tony looked up, his green eyes filled with worry. "That was Camilla. She owns a cantina that Franks likes to frequent. She said Gibbs called her last night and told her to rely a message to Franks. Armed men showed up this morning and when she went to call Gibbs... he didn't answer. She said he left my number in case she couldn't get in touch with him."

Tim swallowed the nervous bile in his throat. "What was the message that Gibbs gave her?"

"Rule forty-four."

"Rule forty-four? I don't know that one."

"That's because rules in the forties are only reserved for emergencies. If the forties are in place... something bad has gone down."

Leon Vance appeared in the bullpen then, his dark eyes falling on all the agents and the toddler playing. "It's bad," he announced, sternly, "Gibbs has gone off the grid."


	4. Want Your Life

**Disclaimer: **Some of the dialogue is taken directly from "Rule Fifty-One." Those words belong to the writers not to me.

**Warnings: **Spoilers for "Rule Fifty-One".

**A/N: **It's been a while since we've checked in with Tony and Kaitlin and I apologize for that. It has been a very busy time of year with the holidays and finals and birthday parties. Hope you enjoy and I hope that I have another update up soon!

* * *

Kaitlin was fussy. And there was nothing Tony could do about it.

She was too little to understand that it wasn't safe to go home, not until they had Colonel Bell and Jason Dean in custody. And she certainly didn't understand why she was lock downed at NCIS with Abby. But he had to keep her safe and the only way for Tony to do that at that moment was to keep her at work with him. Tony promised her lots of Oreos when this was all said and done.

"There's still no word on Gibbs?" Abby asked when Tony popped down to the lab to check on Kaitlin.

"No," he reported, sadly. "Not yet. But it's Gibbs... Abs, he can take care of himself."

"Yeah, I know... just how many pieces is he going to be in when he returns?"

"Hopefully not too many."

Abby glared at him. "Don't even joke about something like that!" she shouted, near tears.

Tony started to comfort her when Kaitlin cried from the office, having been woken up from her nap. Tony went to retrieve her, picking her up and letting her snuggle against his shoulder. He rubbed the toddler's back, hoping to soothe her back to sleep. "Listen, Abby," he whispered, "It's going to be alright. Vance is working with the Mexican government to find Gibbs. And he's arranging for me and Tim to go down there and find him. Just waiting for the clearance."

She bit her lip, nervously, and then she reached out, taking the little girl from her father's arms. "Okay. It's going to be okay. But you need to go! I'll take care of Katie. And if I have work to do I'll get Jimmy to help. She's really warmed up to Jimmy since turning one."

He ran his hand down his daughter's back, hating that he had to leave her _again. _"Hope she doesn't end up loving him more than me."

"What? Tony! That's ridiculous! You're her daddy! She'll always love you the most"

"Really, Abs? Because I leave her more than I'm here."

"Stop, Tony. It is not your fault that you're a single parent. Her mother wanted nothing to do with her!"

Tony sighed, heavily and leaned over to kiss his daughter on the top of her head. She shifted to look at him with her little hazel eyes and his heart clenched, tightly. He forced himself to smile at her. "I love you, peanut."

Kaitlin's face pulled into a grin. "Wuv you Dada."

Abby smiled at him, sadly. "See. She loves you the most."

He sighed and rubbed her soft cheek with his thumb. It was never easy to leave her, but leaving her now, when _both _their lives had been threatened... it was even harder. Tony knew she would be safe at NCIS. Dean was a smart man, he wouldn't try to hurt the toddler here, but still... the thought of being so far away, unable to protect her... "Daddy has to go, baby. Hopefully when I get back I have Grandpa with me."

"You'll find him, Tony," Abby assured him. "You two have some kind of six sense about each other."

"Let's hope it works this time," Tony said, kissing Kaitlin's forehead one last time. "Bye, baby girl. Be good for Auntie Abby and Uncle Jimmy."

"Dada? Bye?" Kaitlin questioned, her eyes filling with tears. "Dada, go?"

Tony braced himself for the inevitable, for her to start crying and reaching for him, but it was as if she knew that this departure was going to be difficult for him and instead of screaming, she pushed her lower lip out in a pout. He pulled both Abby and Kaitlin into a tight hug, kissed his little girl on the cheek and choked out a good-bye before turning on his heel and sprinting for the elevator.

Inside the cab he closed his eyes tightly to stop his own tears. His father's voice ran through his head, screaming at him like he used to when Tony had been small and scared of the drunk bastard. _Weak! You're weak! Men don't cry! Man up, Anthony! _

"Man up, Anthony," Tony muttered underneath his breath as he stepped off the elevator into the squad room. Even though his father was in jail, Senior was still haunting him. "Man up, because you have a job to do. You have to find Gibbs." _Before it's too late. _

* * *

Gibbs woke up with the sun on his face. He was sitting in a chair on a patio and with a woman that he recognized from police reports. Jason Dean was standing next to him, gun trained on him Everything suddenly made sense. It wasn't Bell that Dean had been working for... it had been Paloma Reynosa.

Paloma poured herself a drink and then poured one for Gibbs. "Tennessee Williams said 'We are all sentenced to solitary confinement inside our own skins for life.' Surrounded by men with guns, I think of this often, beautiful, sad but frank. Do you consider yourself a frank man?"

He shrugged his shoulders and swirled his drink around in his glass. She took a sip of hers. "He also said all cruel people describe themselves as paragons of frankness. I would expect nothing less from the man who murdered my father."

Gibbs still didn't respond. This woman had gone after people he cared about, killed an NCIS agent. She didn't deserve a response. He'd speak when he felt it was necessary, but right now... it wasn't.

"I see you chose your words carefully Agent Gibbs, that is good. Your life depends on them."

"I don't usually drink Scotch."

Paloma kept the cool, rueful mask in place. "I do not like bourbon. Or I would have given you your drink of choice."

Gibbs sipped his drink. "You seem to know a lot about me, Ms. Reynosa."

She smiled, wryly. "I believe it is important to know your enemies." Leaning forward she put her glass down and studied him for a moment. "I know where you grew up... who your parents were... who your co-workers are..." She paused and pulled something out of her pocket. "It is important for one to have leverage. when one needs their enemy to cooperate."

He continued to sip his drink, the Scotch reminding him of Jenny. "Leverage? I don't know what you could possibly hold over me that would get me to cooperate with you."

Paloma smirked and dropped what was in her hand on the table. It fluttered in the gentle breeze, landed face up. She relished in the pale expression that crossed over Gibbs features and she knew she had him. "Such an adorable little girl," she said, pointing to Kaitlin's smiling face as she ran and played in the front yard with her father in the photograph. "I know that you would _hate _for anything to happen to her."

"If you hurt that little girl... you'll have more than me to answer too," Gibbs snarled, underneath his breath.

"Her father... yes... you've molded him very much in your image... like a father would a son," Paloma taunted.

"Is that why you had Dean cut his brake lines?" Gibbs snapped, fists clenched into tight balls. "Were you hoping that Tony and Kaitlin would die in a crash?"

"If death was the outcome it would have been acceptable. But cutting the brakes was meant to send you a message."

"I don't know what you're after but you might as well put a bullet in my head right now because you're not going to get anything."

"It's never easy to turn someone, to change them. A federal agent in Washington D.C., you have value. I don't want your death, I want your life."

* * *

Hours had gone by between the time Tony and McGee climbed onto a military plane and the time that Gibbs vanished in Mexico. It had been a whirlwind of hours at that, too. Vance needed to approve their trip, Tony had to make sure that Kaitlin was safe at NCIS... along with Erin, Abby and Ducky because Tony wasn't convinced that they were entirely safe from Colonel Bell too.

Tony's head was pounding by the time their plane landed in Mexico. He'd pounded about four painkillers throughout the course of the day but his stress level was through the roof rendering the medicine useless.

As the plane touched down, Tony grabbed the crash webbing and pulled himself to his feet. "We get in, get Gibbs, and get out. Agreed?"

"Yeah, agreed," McGee said, standing himself. "Vance said he ordered the plane to stand by."

"Hopefully this doesn't take too long," Tony muttered as the doors shuddered and lowered. "Katie's going to learn to say _I hate you _by the age of two at the rate I leave her."

McGee felt for him but with Tony being the senior most agent on the team with Gibbs off the grid, Tony had to go to Mexico. And of course Kaitlin hadn't been too happy about that. "Rivera said he had his men out looking for Gibbs... maybe he'll find him by the time we get to the Justice Department."

Tony led the way off the plane. He had to wonder how many pieces they would find Gibbs in. During the time they were waiting for approval to go to Mexico they had dug up some interesting things, mainly that Jason Dean had received phone calls from another number, one that they couldn't trace to Bell or his annoyingly feisty lawyer, M. Allison Hart. And somehow... it all linked back to Pedro Hernandez and Gibbs killing him all those years ago to avenge his family. "Let's get this over with," the senior field agent mumbled when he saw the black SUV's waiting for them.

Alejandro Rivera stepped out of one, smiling in greeting to the two agents. "Special Agent DiNozzo, Special Agent McGee, welcome to Mexico. I wish I was welcoming you here under different circumstances."

"So, there hasn't been any sign of Gibbs?" Tony asked, with a frustrated sigh. "Or Mike Franks?"

"There has been no sign of either of them, I am sorry, Agent DiNozzo."

"Don't mind if we head out to Franks' house and poke around do you?"

"No, no suit yourself. Although, I do not know how much you are going to find. The house was destroyed by Bell's men."

Tony saw something flicker in Rivera's eyes and as McGee opened his mouth to say something, the senior field agent cut him off, "Have any idea where Colonel Bell is hiding out right now? I have orders to extradite him to the U.S to stand trial."

McGee shot his partner a funny look. They did have any orders of that kind. Vance wanted them to get Gibbs and get back to Washington safely. What was Tony playing at? Before he could get any answers, Rivera was ushering them into a car and driving them back to the Justice Department. Tony shot him a look that told him to kept his mouth shut and he would fill the younger agent in when they were alone.

At the Justice Department they were given the keys to a car and allowed to head out to the site of Mike Franks' house. Even then Tony didn't trust Rivera and didn't speak, like he was expecting the car to be bugged. Now, Tony had McGee's curiosity really peaked.

When they arrived at Franks' destroyed home, Tony parked the SUV and got out. McGee followed suit and headed off in the direction of the ruins. "So... are you not going to talk to me for the rest of this trip."

"I was worried Rivera was listening in on our conversation," Tony confessed.

"Why would he?" McGee asked, honestly.

"Never told him about our concerns about Colonel Bell. How did he know that?"

"Maybe he talked to Vance before we got here."

Tony shook his head. "No, Vance made it perfectly clear that he wasn't going to let it slip that we were here because of Bell. Didn't want to deal with all that messy foreign policy crap. He wanted to wait and lure Bell back to D.C so we could arrest him."

McGee felt a horde of uneasy feelings grasping him. "So... is Rivera in on this? Does he knew about Gibbs and Hernandez?"

"He knows. It was why he assigned that case to Abby."

"What do we do now?"

Tony checked his weapon and gestured towards the hoof trail. "We find Gibbs and end it."


	5. 911

**Warnings:** Spoilers for "Rule Fifty-One".

**A/N:** Now that the holidays have wound down I have some more time to write. Hope you enjoy this chapter! Please let me know what you think!

* * *

"How, exactly, did you know about Colonel Bell?" Tony questioned Rivera, cornering him in his office when his search for Gibbs had yielded no results. "That bit of information was left out of your conversation with Vance."

"Colonel Bell is my problem just as he is yours," Rivera answered, coldly. "I have been tracking his movements since he was released from jail, especially since he has been offering his services to the drug cartels."

Tony straightened his shoulders. Drug cartels? _Colonel Bell didn't order the hits on Lara Macy or for my brake lines to be cut. _"You don't happen to know what drug cartels he's working for, now do you? Or, is this going to be one of those things were even if you do know… you aren't going to tell me?"

Rivera stiffened, visibly. "I do not see what bearing that has in your case or your search for Agent Gibbs, Agent DiNozzo."

Even if he wasn't aware of it, Rivera had just told Tony everything he needed to know. The NCIS agent pushed off of the wall he was resting against and pulled his tee shirt down, tightly over his body. "Well, since this is leading me nowhere… I've got a missing agent to find and it sounds like you've got quite the drug problem to deal with."

"Oh, before you go, Agent DiNozzo," Rivera said, as Tony turned to go. "Do you know if Ms. Sciuto has sent her report?"

"We have bigger fish to fry than a decades old case and a dead dealer no one cares about," Tony drawled, noticing Rivera's jaw tighten. He gave a curt little nod and stepped out of the office and back into the hot Mexican sun. He fished his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed up Abby. "Hey, Abs. I need a favor… can you look into Rivera's phone records for me?"

Abby paused for a moment, and then said, "_Sure. But what exactly am I looking for?" _

Tony sighed and rubbed his temples. "Anything that doesn't seem right, Abs."

"_Oh. Well, in that case... Tony! Nothing seems right about all this! How am I supposed to know if I found something?"_

"You'll know, Abs. I trust you."

"_Ok. But are you coming home soon? Since you shipped that body back... I've been on full Katie duty and I'm sorry I teased you that toddlers were easy."_

He chuckled. It didn't surprise him that his daughter was giving everyone the full on toddler Kaitlin treatment. "Director Vance wants us to stay here for another thirty six hours, when the next military flight is expected to depart. Think you can handle her until then?"

Abby let out a slow breath. "_Maybe if you let me take her home for a while..."_

Tony shook his head and snapped. "No. Until this is over, Abby, I don't want you or Kaitlin or anyone else to leave NCIS. Bell is obviously out to hurt Gibbs and he'll do that anyway he can, even if that means hurting the ones that Gibbs' loves the most." He made her promise to stay at NCIS until he was back one more time before hanging up. Slipping a pair of sunglasses on, he went to find McGee. They still had a missing an agent to track down and they still had to find the man responsible for putting their lives into such a tailspin.

* * *

"Dr. Mallard," Jimmy Palmer said, gazing down at the headless body on their table. "How are we going to identify this body that Tony and McGee found?"

"I've already sent the fingerprints up to Abby," Ducky said, softly as he began to prepare for an autopsy.

Palmer bit down on his lip. Twenty four hours had passed since Tony and McGee had traveled down to Mexico in search of Gibbs and so far all they had uncovered was a body and Mike Franks' home in ruins. Judging from the build and shape of the man on their table, Palmer didn't think this man was Gibbs... but it could certainly by Franks.

Ducky had been reserved during the last few days, especially with Gibbs off the grid. Palmer wasn't sure what was going on but it was more than just Colonel Bell wanting to get back at Gibbs for sending him to jail in Mexico. And it appeared that everyone else was aware of that but him. Well, maybe with the exception of Kaitlin, but even then the toddler was clearly aware that the adults around her were on edge. Palmer didn't blame anyone for being on edge. Tony had ordered all of them to stay at NCIS until they could determine if any of them were in danger. When they did manage to leave the building they were escorted by agents.

"Vance wants to know where we stand on this case," Erin's voice interrupted his thoughts. Palmer looked up to see the female agent enter. "I think Rivera is getting antsy that Tony and McGee are still down there and that they haven't found Gibbs yet."

"We're still waiting on identification of the body," Ducky said. "But I can tell you that this is not Mike Franks. There is minimal scaring of his lungs and not a lot of damage to his liver. For a man who smokes and drinks like Mike, this would be impossible."

"So, if this isn't Mike Franks... who is it?" Erin asked out loud, looking between the two men as the doors swished open.

Abby's loud boots could be heard clunking on the floor before her voice spoke, "Colonel Merton Bell," she answered, solemnly. Everyone turned to look at her, the baby sleeping against her shoulder. "It's not Bell who was after Gibbs."

Erin felt her stomach churning. "If it wasn't Bell that wanted Gibbs dead... then who?" she asked, echoing the sentiments of both Ducky and Palmer.

"I went back and looked at Bell's phone records while Katie was napping," Abby replied. "Most of the calls were made from burn phones but... there were a few to the Justice Department and Rivera in particular."

"Rivera didn't give you that case by chance, Abby," Erin affirmed. "He gave it to you on purpose."

Abby nodded in agreement. "There's more," she said, sadly. "The cartel that gave me that bullet to test... Paloma Reynosa... she was the daughter of Pedro Hernandez. I did some digging... since I though it was odd she had kept that she'll casing for all those years. She was planning this for a long time."

Ducky's brow furrowed. "If she is behind this then she certainly got Rivera involved... But what is her relation to him?"

Sucking in a large amount of air, Abby blurted, "Her brother."

* * *

Camilla's cooking reminded Tony of one of his father's cooks. She had been one of the only servants his father employed that had liked young Anthony. Of course, Tony often wondered if the servants were just afraid of his father and therefore they kept little Anthony at arms' length. But Camilla... she was more than happy to whip up a meal for Tony and McGee.

It was nice to have a home cooked meal. They had neglected eating since they had arrived in Mexico and when they had come in to see if Franks had checked in, Camilla insisted on cooking them something. In fact, she wouldn't let them leave until they had eaten. So, while stopping by had not yielded any new information, at least they had been able to fill their stomachs.

"You boys come back for more at dinner," Camilla said to them as they were leaving. "I do not want Senor Gibbs men to hungry."

"Thanks, Camilla," Tony called back, "You're a doll."

Stepping out into the hot sun, Tony opened his water bottle, took a long sip, and then glanced at his watch. "So. Where do we go from here, Tim?"

Before McGee could answer they were surrounded by a caravan of black SUV's and several heavily armed men. Both agents froze, knowing that going for their weapons was going to end up with them pumped with bullets. Tony and McGee watched as Rivera got out of one of the trucks and headed towards him. "You will be coming with us, Agent DiNozzo."

"Oh. We will?" Tony snapped. "Last time I checked we haven't broken any laws here in Mexico."

"Get in the car. We are going for a ride."

"Ride? A ride to where?"

"To my sister's," Rivera snapped, glaring at the two agents. "And I would advise that you cooperate."

Tony licked lips, glanced at McGee hastily, and glanced around at their predictment. It appeared that both men only had one option. To get into the car. So, he nodded towards to McGee and headed towards the open door of the SUV, while slipping his hand into his pocket and sentsimple text message to Erin—_911._


	6. Escape

**Warnings:** Spoilers for "Rule Fifty-One".

**A/N: **I figured I would post this as a New Year's Treat for everyone. I hope you enjoy it. I know that this storyline was not a favorite arc of many, and I assume some are passing this story by until we move on from the Reynosa's, but until then, thanks to everyone who has been faithfully reading and following along. Your support really is what keeps me writing :)**  
**

* * *

Gibbs shot his two agents a glare when they were dragged into Paloma's living room. "I'm getting really tired of you boys getting taken just to save my ass."

Tony frowned as he was shoved onto a love seat across from his boss. "Sorry, Gibbs, this wasn't a part of the plan this time. We were actually just minding our own business, eating lunch, when we were forced here by gunpoint."

"You were making the locals a little too nervous, Agent DiNozzo," Paloma said, grinning, coldly. "It was interfering with my plans."

"What plans?" Tony snapped at her. "Pushing your drugs illegally into the States?"

Paloma's eyes grew dark. "You best be careful, Agent DiNozzo... I know things about you... ways I can hurt you. I would tread very, very carefully if you do not want the one you love the most getting hurt."

Tony's jaw twitched and his shoulders stiffened. "It was _you _that ordered my brake lines to be cut," he concluded, seeing the glint in her eyes confirmed it. She was the one that had nearly taken his and Kaitlin's lives. "Leave my little girl alone," he growled, protectively.

She could easily tell what his weakness was going to be... his precious baby girl. Paloma poured herself a drink and asked that all the guards leave, except Dean. "I consider myself a patient woman, Agent DiNozzo. But that patience is slowly running around."

"Not quite sure what you want," Tony spat, his nerves frayed now that she had threatened his baby.

"Blood, vengeance, Agent DiNozzo."

"For what, exactly?"

"The death of my father," she said, her eyes flickering towards Gibbs, briefly.

Tony felt his mouth run dry as he began to put the pieces together. Pedro Hernandez had been Paloma and Alejandro's father... shot to death by Gibbs... after he had killed Shannon and Kelly. It was tangled web that had been woven and Tony and McGee were caught squarely in the middle. Somehow they had to get out of this mess but he wasn't sure how. "An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind," the SFA responded, low in his throat.

Paloma sipped her drink. Her dark brown eyes showed very little emotion. It was like looking into someone with no soul. "My brother wants to arrest your Agent Gibbs, send him to jail... me... I prefer a more... poetic form of justice. Something that Agent Gibbs and I have in common."

Gibbs watched as Tony shifted uncomfortably on the couch. The SFA was trying to plot some kind of escape but with heavily armed men surrounding the place, the team leader wasn't sure how they were going to accomplish that. He highly doubted that a team of highly trained Marines or Navy Seals were going to be breaking down the doors any moment know to save them. "Ms. Reynosa wants me to run errands for her in the States."

"Or else..." Tony guessed, knowing full well that his boss wouldn't push drugs unless someone he loved was threatened.

"She kills everyone that I know... that I love... starting with you and Kaitlin."

"Go ahead, kill me. I know my daughter is safe."

Alejandro sneered. "You cannot keep her locked up at NCIS forever."

Tony shrugged. "No. I can't. But she could always be put in witness protection."

Paloma raised her chin slightly. "You would take that risk? After you are gone..."

"Yes," Tony hissed, leaning forward, "because I would make sure to come back and haunt both your asses if you touched her."

"If you think he's annoying, now..." McGee blurted, with a slight shake of his head.

"Silence!" Paloma shouted, "All of you!"

Tony slowly leaned back, letting his body lightly touch the sofa. His green eyes darted about the room, quickly, briefly, trying to find some means of escape. He knew there was probably very little time before Paloma ordered Dean to put bullets into all of them and just rid herself of the trouble.

Gibbs could sense the SFA plotting an escape. That was Tony, always thinking, always trying to remain one step ahead of everyone else. He ran his tongue over his cracked lips. "You've got our attention, Ms. Reynosa."

Paloma snarled, her lip curling, and she dropped a box, covered in silver duct tape onto the coffee table. "We will start small. With this."

"And my agents?"

"One of them is to remain here, in case you have a change of heart."

"No. They both leave with me. If you want this done, all three of us are walking out of here."

Tony felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as she moved across the room, poured another drink, and nodded silently at Dean. He wasn't sure what that meant but his gut was telling him some not so good things at the moment. It didn't take him long to find out. He heard the click of the gun behind him and braced himself.

As Dean moved in to finish him off, Tony snapped his knife to life, and in one, swift motion both he took the former Army Ranger down, plunging his blade into Dean's gut. The gun firing and breaking a lamp near by, causing McGee to startled and leap up, wrestling the weapon from the dying Dean's grasp. Tony grabbed the back up weapon and yanked his blade free from Dean's body. He wiped the blood off on his jeans and aimed the gun directly at Alejandro. "We're leaving, Ms. Reynosa," he said, firmly. "If you want your brother to live you'll give me the keys to the car and call your minions off."

Paloma held her men off with her hand. "If you shoot him, I will just have them kill you. What is the point?"

"Your brother would still be dead. Now do we have a deal?"

"You will never make it beyond the gate."

"McGee."

McGee in response fired his weapon near the foot of one of the guards, who dropped his weapon in a startled response. The federal agent quickly collected it.

Tony glared at the drug cartel leader. "Do we have a deal?"

Paloma ordered her two men to back down. "I will make life a living hell for you, Agent DiNozzo." She tossed the keys towards him. "You and your little girl will never be safe."

"Come after me, Paloma, and let's see what happens," Tony snarled, helping Gibbs to his feet, keeping his gun trained on Alejandro. "Just ask the last guy that threatened her."

Gibbs took the other gun from McGee and snatched the package off the table. He gestured for his two agents to lead the way out, Paloma screaming after him, "I will make you pay, Gibbs! Sooner or later you will all have to answer for your actions!"

Tony sprinted down the front steps towards the SUV, he nearly vaulted inside with McGee and Gibbs, started the thing up and floored it off the property. When they were well on their way, McGee yelled, "Son of a bitch, Tony! You're lucky you didn't get us killed back there!"

"Whatever is in that package is more valuable to her than murdering all of us," Tony spat, looking in the rear-view mirror expecting someone to be following.

"How long do you think we have to get the hell out of Mexico before she comes after us?"

"Not long. Good thing we kept that plane on standby."

"DiNozzo," Gibbs said, finally breaking his silence, "you ever do something that stupid again... I might kill you myself."

Tony pushed the car to the max and just laughed.

* * *

Leon Vance was happy to hear that his agents were back on the ground in Washington, but he was not happy to hear that in the process of being in Mexico they had stirred the hornet's nest that was the Reynosa Cartel. "I wish you had just been honest with me, Gibbs," the Director stated, flatly when Gibbs, DiNozzo, and McGee appeared in his office. "Could have saved us all a headache."

Gibbs shot a glare at DiNozzo. "It wasn't my idea to blast our way out of there."

"Didn't have very many options, Director Vance," DiNozzo replied, softly. "I take full responsibility in the matter. I know that Paloma Reynosa isn't going to go away, that she's going to come after all of us."

"Paloma Reynosa was coming after us before you angered her," Vance pointed out. "We just have take some more necessary precautions to protect ourselves. What about your father?" he directed the question towards, Gibbs.

Gibbs shrugged his shoulders. "I called and asked if he had a place to go for a few days, told him what was going on. He said he'll take his chances with his Winchester."

Vance chuckled. Like father, like son. "Very well. I suppose we can't force him. Kaitlin?"

DiNozzo's shoulders stiffened, slightly. "FBI is working on round the clock protection for both of us. She isn't leaving this building without me or another agent attached to her."

"We should probably put you both up in a safe house."

"Director, with all due respect, I've torn my daughter's life apart enough... she needs to be home."

"They can stay with me."

DiNozzo turned to glare at Gibbs and opened his mouth to protest, but the team leader shut him up real quick. "She isn't after me, DiNozzo. She's after everyone that I love and care about. You and Kaitlin are staying with me. We'll post round the clock agents outside to keep her safe."

Vance decided that Gibbs and DiNozzo could have it out later over that, right now, they had other matters to attend too. "I've assigned agents to and as well. We're going to have to find a way to end this, gentlemen, so I suggest that we all put our heads together and come up with a solution before someone else gets hurt."

* * *

Kaitlin ran at him, smiling when she saw him enter the lab. Abby had tied her golden brown hair into two little pig tails and she was wearing her pajamas.

Tony's heart clenched as he picked her up and hugged her. She had no idea how much turmoil their lives were in at the moment. "I'm gonna keep you safe, peanut," he whispered to her, kissing her soft little cheek. "I promise."

"You're here! You're back!" Abby exclaimed, lunging at him and hugging him in a death grip. "We were so worried when Erin got your text!"

"Fine now, Abs," Tony whispered, giving Kaitlin a little squeeze. "Happy to be home."

Abby pulled away and saw the fear in his eyes. "Tony? What's going on?"

"Paloma Reynosa was behind everything. She wants Gibbs to suffer... she wants me and Katie dead."

"What are you going to do?"

Tony sighed and rubbed his daughter's back. Kaitlin had stuck her thumb in her mouth and was beginning to drift off to sleep, feeling safe and content in her daddy's arms. "Gibbs' is taking us in and posting a round the clock protection detail around his house."

Abby reached out and stroked Kaitlin's cheek. "It's going to be okay, Tony. Gibbs would never let anything happen to Katie."

He was very much aware that his boss would take a bullet for his child, but it didn't make him feel any better. Tony grabbed up Kaitlin's things and wished Abby a good night, heading quietly towards the elevator. Gibbs was upstairs waiting for them to take them back to his house. It wasn't what Tony wanted... he wanted to take his daughter home after the upheaval the last few days but... Gibbs was a stubborn bastard and there was just no arguing with him.

Tony stepped into the elevator and hit the button for the squad room. Kaitlin had fallen asleep against his shoulder and was snoring, lightly. At least she was too little to understand the danger they were in. He wished he was too little to understand as he stepped off the elevator and headed towards his desk. Instantly, he knew something was wrong, just by looking at Erin and McGee's faces. "What's going on?"

"It's Jackson," Erin whispered, "Stillwater Sheriff called... his store was shot up by two gunmen with automatic weapons. A woman was with them."

"Paloma Reynosa," Tony guessed. Erin nodded. "So, she's in the States."

"Probably left as soon as she could," McGee replied.

"Any word on Jackson?"

"None yet. The Sheriff said he would call if Jackson turned up."

Tony blinked, surprised. "So... he wasn't in the store?"

McGee shook his head. "No."

"Well... where the hell is he?"

Gibbs appeared then, grabbing his jacket and gesturing towards Tony. "At my house waiting for us. Let's go!" When he noticed that Tony wasn't moving, he quirked a small grin, "Come on, DiNozzo! Dad made steak... aren't you hungry?"

Tony shook his head to clear the cobwebs and grabbed his gear, followed behind Gibbs, and responded, "On your six, boss."

* * *

_Is it believable? Probably not, but it was really fun to write haha!_


	7. Day of the Dead

**Warnings:** Spoilers for "Spider and the Fly".

**A/N: **There seemed to have been a glitch with the last chapter, so I hope everyone got to read it :). **  
**

**Guest- **_thank you! I love writing this series so I have no plans to stop :)_

**Dis- **_thank you, these episodes were not my favorites either, I'm probably going to wrap up this storyline and move on in the next chapter._

* * *

Tony, and Kaitlin too, had gotten used to being under Gibbs' roof over the last two months. Even though Paloma had not tried to come after Tony, Gibbs was still being an overprotective mother bear and insisting that his senior field agent and the toddler stay with him.

It wasn't all bad. Jackson was there as well and Kaitlin enjoyed spending her days with him. But even she had her limits and it was becoming apparent that she was tired of staying with Grandpa Gibbs. Tony just wasn't sure how to approach the subject of leaving. He knew that Gibbs was worried about him and Kaitlin, and he knew that staying at the team leader's house was giving him a peace of mind, but at some point, Tony knew that he and Kaitlin had to go home and try to get back to normal.

Kaitlin looked frustrated on the fall morning Tony decided to talk to Gibbs. At eighteen months the little portable crib was starting to get a bit cramped for her and her stuffed penguin, Gwens.

"I know, I know," Tony said to her as he lifted her out of the crib. "Promise I'm going to talk to Grandpa today about going home."

He changed the fussy child, brushed her hair, and carried her downstairs for breakfast. Gibbs was seated at the dining table eating eggs and bacon that Jackson had prepared and sipping his coffee. Tony could see the agents outside the window and he tightened his hold on Kaitlin's waist. It had been a living nightmare not knowing what Paloma was up too. Despite the team trying to track her down before she could go after Jackson or Kaitlin. Erin was in Miami and McGee up in Canada, which had left Gibbs and Tony to man the fort back in D.C.

As he placed Kaitlin in the highchair next to Gibbs, Tony realized that he was just as frustrated and fussy as his daughter.

"Got some bacon and eggs here for you, Tony," Jackson said bringing him a plate. "French toast for the little princess is almost done," he added with a smile.

"Sugar, Gampa Jack?" Kaitlin asked, smiling coyly at the older man. "Pleeze?"

"Absolutely!" Jackson exclaimed, brightly before heading back into the kitchen.

Tony poured himself a cup of coffee and shook his head. That little girl had Jackson Gibbs wrapped around her little finger... and he was pretty sure she knew it too. He fixed his coffee to his likening and glanced up at Gibbs, silently reading his paper. "Boss... I think we need to talk about Katie and I moving back home. She's, ah... she's getting a little restless in that portable crib."

Gibbs put the paper down slightly to gaze at him over the top. "Is she getting restless or are you?"

"Perhaps a little bit of both," Tony replied. "Boss... she hasn't tried anything in three months. I think... it's time for our co-habitation to come to an end."

"Just because she hasn't tried anything yet doesn't mean she won't," Gibbs argued. He put the paper down and looked over at Kaitlin. Sighing, he leaned over and kissed her cheek before getting up from the table. "Let's give it a couple more nights, Tony and then... we'll revisit this discussion."

Tony sighed, sadly and whispered to the toddler, "Well, you can't say I didn't try."

* * *

By mid-day, after Jackson had put Kaitlin down for her nap, the elder Gibbs noticed a change in activity outside of the house. The agents seemed more on high alert and he wondered, briefly, if perhaps Paloma had finally decided to make her move.

Jackson would be happy when this was all said and done. He had heard Tony requesting to go home that morning and he echoed the sentiment. He loved his son but there was only so long he could live under one roof with him. Besides, poor Kaitlin was old enough to realize that all her toys were somewhere else.

Kaitlin didn't stay asleep long. She really was getting cramped in that small crib and Jackson didn't blame her for being fussy. Clutching her favorite stuffed animal at her side, she snuggled against Jackson's shoulder as he carried her back downstairs. Gibbs was waiting for them, blue eyes concerned and worried.

"Leroy? What are you doing here?" Jackson asked. "We were just going to have grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch."

"Came by to check on you, Dad," Gibbs answered, softly. He took Kaitlin out of his father's arms and kissed her temple. "Maybe spring ya from the house for a couple of hours."

Jackson was now even more concerned. It was true that he had left the house since arriving here, taking the agents with him, but he had never gone anywhere with his son. Gibbs had spent most of his time at NCIS trying to find the woman who was turning their lives upside down. "Is everything all right, son, you seem distracted."

Gibbs stroked Kaitlin's hair while she rubbed her tired, little eyes. "NCIS investigated a double homicide this morning. Paloma Reynosa murdered a flight crew that flew her into the area."

"And you were afraid she had gotten past the agents," Jackson stated. "Kaitlin and I are fine. Safe, Leroy. No need to bring us down to NCIS."

"Gampa, see Dada?" Kaitlin asked, pushing her lower lip out into a pout.

"Maybe later," Gibbs promised her, giving her another kiss. _Hopefully it will all be over by then. _

His gut tingled even before he heard the backdoor creak open. He thrust Kaitlin into his father's arms and pulled his gun, aiming it towards the kitchen. Gibbs applied slight pressure on the trigger...

Mike Franks snapped, gruffly. "Put that thing down, Probie."

Gibbs cocked a smile and slid his weapon back into the holster. "About time you got here, Mike."

"You know how it goes, on the run from a drug cartel."

"Here to stay?"

"Sweet little Paloma has her hornet up her skirt and her sights set on revenge. Think I'd miss that?"

Gibbs chuckled and gave a shake of his head. "Dangerous, Mike."

Franks shrugged. "Do what you have to for family."

"Yeah," Gibbs agreed, running his fingers through Kaitlin's hair. "Don't have to tell me that twice."

His cell phone gave a shrill ring in his pocket. He quickly answered it, stating, "Go DiNozzo. What do you have for me?"

Tony was tense, Gibbs could hear it in his voice. "_Rivera just showed up. He's talking to Vance now."_

"McGee and Erin back yet?"

_"Erin's flight landed an hour ago. She should be here soon. McGee is in the air." _

Gibbs sighed and rubbed his temple. "You stay on Rivera, do you hear me?"

Tony didn't know the lead agent to tell him twice to keep his eyes on Rivera. If Paloma's brother had showed up it could only mean that she herself was right around the corner. "_Don't have to tell me twice, boss." _

"I'm on my way back to NCIS," Gibbs told him.

"_Katie is okay?" _Tony asked, softly, concerned for his baby girl.

"She's fussy. She's tired. We all are."

"_Yeah. I hope she isn't giving your dad too hard a time." _

Gibbs chuckled and grinned. "Well, Mike is here now. She can give him the hard time."

Tony laughed, lightly. "_I don't know who I feel more sorry for."_

"Oh," Gibbs said, as he left his house and headed back towards his car, "that's easy. Kaitlin." He hung up and get into the car and sighed. _And hopefully it won't be long that she has to put up with Mike._

* * *

Rivera had slunk around NCIS like a cat hunting and Tony hated it. He kept his eyes on the Mexican government official as best he could while Rivera was in the building. But after he had subtly threatened Abby before leaving, Tony had been tracing his cell every since.

Tony was not going to take any chances that Rivera was here to meet up with Paloma. She had already killed another drug dealer to send them a message. Who know who she was going to go after next. Gibbs had tried to get him to go home or well, back to the boss' house, but he had insisted on staying just a little bit longer, following the pings on Rivera's cell. It was the least he could do right now to protect his daughter. It was unnerving him that Paloma was so close. He wanted to take Katie and run and hide. Somewhere far away. Somewhere Paloma could not find his sweet little girl and hurt her.

"DiNozzo, when I get back from walking Abby to her car... you better be packing up to go home," Gibbs snapped at him.

"Just a few more minutes, boss. I promise," Tony pleaded, looking up at the team leader.

Gibbs was going to hold his SFA to that, when he got back. Tony didn't watch him leave, he went back to work, knowing full well that McGee and Erin were sending him looks. At this point he didn't care. He was doing this to keep Kaitlin safe.

McGee let out a little sigh. "Tony... I told you I could do that so you could go."

"Kaitlin is probably giving Franks a hard time right now," Erin piped up.

"Doubtful. He probably slipped some hooch in her milk," McGee grumbled.

Tony's head snapped up and he sent a horrified look towards McGee. "You're right! Gibbs left my daughter with Franks! He's never raised a kid a day in his life! He probably thinks giving her alcohol is the answer to get her to stop fussing!"

McGee chuckled, slightly. "Well, here's hoping she's a mean drunk," he teased, but quickly wiped the smirk off his face when he saw the dangerous look in his partner's eyes. "Tony, relax. I'm only kidding. I'm sure Jackson is the one taking care of her," he said as his desk phone rang. "McGee," he answered, curtly, keeping his eyes on the senior field agent. "Ah, sure I'll trace the last call on your phone, boss. Just give me a second."

Erin and Tony watched as McGee worked and then as a puzzled look came over the junior agent's face. "Boss," McGee said, "it came just outside of your house."

"Tim," Tony rasped, heart hammering in his chest, "What's going on?" he asked, as McGee reached for his cell and dialed.

"Boss," McGee said with a shake of his head, "They're not answering."

"TIM!" Tony shouted, jumping to his feet, reaching for his weapon even as McGee hung up and jumped to his feet.

"Paloma is near Gibbs' house, the agents aren't answering," McGee announced, effectively sending Tony into a tailspin and dashing out of the bullpen.

He had to get to his daughter before that woman took everything away from him.

* * *

It was silent at the house. Tony didn't wait for Erin or McGee to provide him backup. Gun drawn he entered the house through the wide open front door. His heart was in his throat as he made sure the living room was clear before climbing the steps up to the bedroom.

Tony found the hall clear. It did nothing to calm his nerves as he made his way closer and closer to the room where his daughter should be sleeping. The door was ajar, which wasn't out of the ordinary. Jackson preferred to leave it open for her, to give her some fresh air.

Carefully he opened the door and found the room empty. Holstering his weapon, Tony dashed towards the portable crib. But even as he got closer he knew that something was wrong.

His little girl was gone and a Day of the Dead doll had been left in her place.


	8. Finest Hour

**Warnings: **Spoilers for "Spider and the Fly"**  
**

**A/N: **Second to last chapter in the Reynosa story arc. After this I think the team is going to need a break and I plan on writing some fluffy chapters ;). Until then, enjoy, and please feel free to leave a review or send me a PM, I love hearing your feedback, sometimes your thoughts inspire me!

* * *

Tony clutched the souvenir that Paloma had left behind, rage coursing through his veins. If she thought she was going to get away with abducting his daughter... she had another thing coming. She had come after his family, the only flesh and blood in his life that he truly cared about. Fire in his eyes he spun about on his heel and darted down the stairs. She better be prepared for a fight because he was about to unleash all his fury onto her, especially if his baby girl was hurt.

"DiNozzo," Gibbs called from the kitchen, when he heard the other agent thundering down the stairs. He appeared in the living room, saw the look in the SFA's eyes and knew immediately that something was wrong.

"She has my baby," Tony snarled, tossing the Day of the Dead doll at Gibbs' feet. "She hurts my baby, even if one hair is out of place, I swear to God, Gibbs, I'll put a bullet between her eyes."

Gibbs' brow furrowed and he looked down at the doll. He was still shaken that Paloma had gotten past the agents and into the house, thus it was taking him a longer time to process what Tony was saying to him. He picked the doll up and held it, it was identical to the ones that Abby and Ducky had found tucked into their windshields. "Where... where did you find this?"

Tony was filled with so much rage that he wanted to rip that doll to pieces. "In Kaitlin's portable crib. That woman has _my _daughter, Gibbs! All the deal making in the world isn't going to put an end to this! Vance can talk to Rivera until he's blue in the face! That monster doesn't deserve a deal!"

"DiNozzo..." Gibbs started to say but was quickly cut off by his SFA.

"Don't argue with me on this, boss! That woman deserves what's coming to her! It stops _now!"_

Franks appeared, carrying a couple of Coronas. "DiNozzo's right. Time to end this, Probie." He offered one to Gibbs, who shook his head. Shrugging the former NCIS agent turned towards Tony and offered it to him.

"Are you insane!" Tony shouted, his voice echoing off the walls. "I don't have time to drink! I have to find my daughter!"

Gibbs glared at the senior field agent and opened his mouth to start talking but McGee blew through the open front door. "Boss. One agent is dead, the other injured. Paramedics are on the way. Balboa was with them," the junior agent reported. "There's no sign of Paloma. She's long gone. I'm keeping tabs on Rivera's cell phone and I've updated Director Vance."

Tony flew past McGee, towards the door. "I have to get out of here."

"DINOZZO!"

"WHAT!"

"If you would just shut up for a second... I could have told you that your daughter is in the kitchen with my dad!"

Tony felt his heart rate sky rocket even more, not from fear but from absolute relief. He pushed past Gibbs and Franks, stepped into the kitchen and found his little girl, struggling to stay awake in Jackson's arms. She was safe. She wasn't in the hands of that terrible, hateful woman. "Katie..."

Kaitlin looked up when she heard her father's voice, but instead of smiling like she usually did, she burst into tears, crying out for him. Tony's heart broke as he gathered his baby girl into his arms and hushed her.

"She's having a terrible time falling asleep tonight," Jackson said, rubbing the back of her head. "Sounds like it was a good thing she was downstairs in the basement with us."

"I promise, peanut, I promise that she is not getting that close ever again," Tony whispered to his daughter, his heart rate settling now that he knew that his baby was safe.

Kaitlin, with a bit of whine, flopped against her daddy's shoulder, snuggled right underneath his chin, and promptly fell asleep. Tony rubbed her back while he snuggled her in his arms. He wasn't ready to relinquish his hold on her. If she had been in her crib his daughter would be gone. Paloma had the resources to make his daughter disappear. For once he was happy that she was fussy.

Gibbs came into the kitchen, carrying the little girl's blanket. He draped it over the sleeping child and took a deep breath. "Tony, I'm sorry," he told the senior field agent. "I'm sorry that I've dragged you and Kaitlin into all of this."

Tony clung tightly to his baby girl. It didn't matter anymore that he had been dragged into all this. What mattered now was that they ended this. "I'm standing by my earlier statement... it's time to end this."

"Yeah. I know."

"Then tell me you have a plan, boss."

"I've got a plan."

He didn't feel much better, but Tony reasoned that he wouldn't feel better until this was over. Kaitlin sighed in her sleep and rubbed her little cheek into his chest. "Um... boss... when exactly do you intend to put your plan in action because I don't think I'm going to be able to put her down for six to eight hours."

Gibbs chuckled. It was true. If Tony were to put that baby down now... all hell could break loose. "We need time to smooth out the fine details."

Tony sighed and kissed the top of Kaitlin's head. It had been a long time since he'd gotten to snuggle his baby.

"In the meantime... Kaitlin's coming back to NCIS."

"Boss... is that necessary? I can just stay here."

"No. She's proven that she can get to Kaitlin here. I won't chance it."

He couldn't argue with that, so Tony carried his daughter out to the car, wrapped in her blanket. Hopefully by this time the following night she would be sleeping in her own bed. Kaitlin briefly opened her eyes when the car pulled away heading back towards the Navy Yard. She caught Tony's eyes and smiled, sleepily. "Love you, Dada."

A smile spread across his own face. Tony instantly felt his body ease and a new focus take hold. He could worry about Paloma or he could help Gibbs get rid of her for good. Pressing his lips to Kaitlin's forehead, he whispered, "I love you, too, peanut. So much. Don't you fret, everything is going to be okay. I promise."

* * *

Ducky was not surprised that Abby had shown up in autopsy, Kaitlin in tow. It had been a long night for all of them and while the toddler had slept curled up in her father's lap, the team had formulated a plan.

Gibbs had disappeared off the grid after that. No one on the team was fussing or running around in a worried state this time though. It was all according to plan. Still... Abby looked pensive.

"Abigail, my dear," Ducky said, smiling. "Come in. I was just about to have some tea. And I think I have some cookies around here for the little one."

"Cookie!" Kaitlin exclaimed, happily clapping her hands. She was in a much better mood since sleeping the whole night in Tony's lap.

Abby hugged the little girl tightly, still shaken that Paloma's intention had been to snatch the little girl and tear her away from her family. They had barely survived when the slimy lawyer had kidnapped the baby... she knew they never would have survived if a drug cartel had their hands on her. "I'm nervous, Ducky. What if Gibbs plan doesn't work?"

He sighed and gestured for the young woman to sit down. Abby settled into a chair, Kaitlin snuggled in her lap. Ducky appeased the child with the promised cookie and while the little girl was happily distracted by her treat, he told her the tale of Winston Churchill's radio address to England before the first bombing by Germany. "Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties," he quoted," and so bear ourselves that if the British empire and its Commonwealth lasts for a thousand years, men will still say 'This was their finest hour'."

She blinked and hugged Kaitlin tightly.

He continued. "The hour is upon us, Abby. All we can do is wait and see."

* * *

Tony made sure to keep Kaitlin under-wraps at NCIS, especially with Rivera in the building. His daughter had already been a target of abduction the night before... he was not going to chance it.

Gibbs had left with his father and Mike that morning. Putting all the pieces into place.

He tapped his fingers on his desk, waiting for the signal from Vance to head on up to his office. Tony had written the post-it note bait hours ago, while Kaitlin had been sleeping in his lap... getting her first good night's sleep in weeks. He was eager to end this and end it _now. _

"Do you think this is going to work?" Erin asked, softly from her desk.

"Seen Gibbs pull off crazier," Tony confessed with a shrug. "So yeah... I think it's going to work."

Tony felt his cell phone vibrate. Glancing down he say it was a message from Vance, telling him that it was time to roll. Grabbing his note he vaulted up the stairs towards the Director's office. When he entered, apologizing for interrupting, Rivera glanced up at him, looking smug. God, Tony wanted to break character right then and there and punch the bastard in the face. But he didn't. Because if he did it would endanger the entire mission, and he needed this to end for Kaitlin. "Sir," he said handing him the fake note.

Vance played his part well. He took the note and planted it face down on his folder. "Details?"

"Confirmed."

"Gibbs?"

"He's fine. Going to spend the night at the safe house."

Pulling his suit coat down, Vance stood and excused himself, following Tony out of the office. In just a few moments they would know if Rivera had taken the bait or not. For all their sakes... Tony prayed that he did.

* * *

_Ok, so I couldn't really take Katie from Tony again... it hurt too much lol_


	9. Done and Over With

**Warnings: **Spoilers for "Spider and the Fly".

**A/N: **Sorry that it has been so long since I posted an update for this story. The Reynosa storyline was not my favorite so it was harder to write this than what I was writing for my other stories. But... it is now wrapped up in this chapter and we're moving on. I think it might be time for Tony and Katie to head to Stillwater for some time away. Enjoy! And please let me know what you think!

**amaia-** _I couldn't take Katie away from Tony again. Sorry about the long wait for an update. My writing muse has been with my other works but I don't want to abandon this so it was time to get something out, even if it was a small little update!_

**NCIS Fan- **_I'm thinking even though Katie wasn't taken, Tony is still going to want to lock her up to keep her safe lol._

**S-**_ Yes, she was in the basement giving Franks a hard time... poor little fuss budget :)_

* * *

As they suspected, Rivera took the bait... with a little help from McGee jamming all his attempts to reach his sister. By the time the tracker was transmitting a signal, Tony and Erin were on their way to the safe house.

"Gibbs, his dad, and Franks are in position," Erin reported while the SFA drove. "He seems confident she isn't going to catch on."

"As long as McGee keeps jamming her cell phone... she won't," Tony replied, calmly.

Erin wished she felt this confident and relaxed. Truth was she was extremely worried. If this did not work Paloma was not going to leave them alone. And she felt the most for Tony... doing whatever he could to protect his daughter. "Do you think this crazy idea is going to work?"

Tony set his jaw and nodded, firmly. "Yeah. I've seen Gibbs come up with crazier and they've worked. Why shouldn't this?" He turned the car down a dusty, windy road leading up to their safe house, but before reaching the safe house, he veered off the path and parked the car in a hiding place. The sun was beginning to set and soon the area would be surrounded by darkness. He shut the car down, plunging them into silence. "Now we wait."

* * *

Gibbs _hated _the waiting game. But that was what they were playing at the moment. Tony had called him to inform him that he and Erin were in place, Rivera was buying into their ploy and he was sure that Paloma had fallen for the bait of the safe house as well. They had left her an easy enough trail to follow.

If this didn't work... he really didn't have a plan B. That was probably stupid of him, but with the drug cartel leader getting so close to Kaitlin... he needed plan A to work.

"You need to calm down, Probie," Franks said, next to him in his gruff voice.

"I am calm," Gibbs snapped, clenching his fists. "Just want this to be over. For Tony's sake."

"Paloma ain't getting to that little girl on the Navy Yard," Franks pointed out.

Gibbs closed his eyes for a second, picturing that woman standing in his guest room over the baby's empty portable crib. Would she have snatched Kaitlin right then and there if the toddler had been cooperating and been asleep like she should have been? Or was her plan all along to just leave the Day of the Dead doll to let Gibbs and Tony know that she could get that close? "That little girl is his whole life, Mike," the team leader whispered. "I don't want to be the one responsible for him loosing her."

Franks sighed and decided to let it drop. He had seen how much that sweet baby had meant to everyone when he had been there last year. And having a granddaughter himself, he could understand Gibbs' fierce desire to protect her. Gibbs was right that Kaitlin was the center of Tony's world, anyone could see it, and the former agent wondered just what would happen to Tony if something awful was to happen to that child.

"_Boss," _Tony's voice came over the walkie talkie. "_Car just turned up the road towards the cabin. One female driver, no passengers."_

"Copy that, DiNozzo," Gibbs responded. "Stay sharp."

"_Don't have to tell us twice, boss." _

Gibbs sighed and put the radio down on the dash. His father had dozed off in the back seat. Hopefully by the end of tonight Jackson could be on his way home. The older man was getting antsy to go home, almost as much as Kaitlin was to go back to her house.

Headlights reflected off the trees as a car approached the safe house. Gibbs watched silently as their target got out and easily entered the house. He checked his gun one more time and set his jaw. Like Tony had said the night before, it was time to end this.

* * *

"McGee? Has Tony called at all yet?" Abby asked, anxiously when she brought Kaitlin up to the bullpen for pizza.

"Not yet," McGee replied, flipping the box open to reveal a pepperoni pizza.

"Pepperoni? Really, Tim? Katie isn't going to eat that!"

"Tony said it was her favorite!"

"Roni!" Kaitlin exclaimed, brightly. She grinned from ear to ear. "Aunnie, I have pizza, pleeze?"

McGee shook his head. Gosh, this child was Tony in every sense of the word. He cut up a slice of pizza for her and then sat her on his lap while she happily ate. He rubbed the back of her head. Kaitlin turned her head and looked at him and he was struck at how much her young life had been in turmoil. And despite all that turmoil she was still happy, evidenced by her grin that spread across her face while she ate her pepperoni pizza. She was calm, unaware of what was really going on around her.

Abby, on the other hand, was pacing the bullpen, refusing to eat. She was too nervous to eat... she got this way when her family was in danger... and especially got this way when Kaitlin was in danger.

Kaitlin, to her credit, kept trying to get Abby to eat with them, but it was failing. "Aunnie, sad?" she asked, McGee, flashing him her big hazel eyes.

"Just nervous," McGee assured her and then realized that the toddler probably had no idea what that meant. "Maybe a little sad."

"Aunnie, want esmo kiss?" Kaitlin asked, sliding of McGee's lap and dashing towards Abby.

"Esmo kiss?" McGee repeated.

"Eskimo kiss," Abby said, picking Kaitlin up. "Tony gives them to her when she's sad."

Kaitlin put her little hands on either side of Abby's face and rubbed her little nose against the scientist's, giggling. It eased the tension of the moment, of their worrying about what was going on... until the phone rang on McGee's desk.

McGee looked Abby, anxiously, and picked the phone up. "Agent McGee." Immediately his shoulders eased and he smiled, letting out a sigh of relief. "That's great, Tony. Yeah... yeah everything is fine here. Katie loved her pepperoni pizza. Sure... we'll have her ready to go home by the time you get back." He hung the phone and up and sighed again, smiling at Abby. "It's over. They fell for it. Paloma is dead and Rivera is going to jail."

* * *

Tony watched as Ducky and Palmer loaded the body into the back of the van. His nerves were still frayed, after everything had been through in the last few months it was going to take a while for them to settle. But, Paloma Reynosa was dead... by the hands of her own brother no less... but that woman was never going to hurt his daughter... and Rivera... he was going to jail. It was the outcome they were expecting when they had discovered the bug in Vance's office.

Erin reached out and grabbed his arm. "You okay, Tony?"

He looked down at her and nodded. "Yeah... little rattled. Relieved."

"Kaitlin will be happy to sleep in her own bed tonight," Erin said with a smile as she walked away.

"Yeah," Tony breathed, watching her. Kaitlin was not the only one that was going to be happy to sleep in their own bed. He was too.

Gibbs suddenly pat him on the back, startling him slightly. "Get out of here, DiNozzo," he told the younger man. "Kaitlin is going to want her Daddy to put her to bed tonight and not Uncle Tim or Aunt Abby."

Tony smiled, softly. "You know my daughter just about as well as I do, boss."

"I know that I've put that little girl through hell this summer. Go on, Tony, go make some of it up to her."

"On it, boss."

With a smile on his face, Gibbs watched as Tony jogged to the car, got inside, and sped away. Finally everything was alright with the world again. He just prayed it stayed that way for a long time. His team, his family, they needed and deserved a break.


	10. Cherish

**Warnings:** None for this chapter.

**A/N:** Here is the next update. Little fluffy, but this story needed some fluff after all. Hope you enjoy!

**Guest-**_ Glad you enjoyed the update. Hope you like this one too!_

**NCIS Fan- **_ You're probably right, I doubt Tony will let his daughter eat pizza with pineapple on it lol_

* * *

"_Dada_," Kaitlin's voice cried over the baby monitor. "_Dada!"_

Tony woke up, blinking away the sleep from his eyes and stumbled out of bed. Rubbing his eyes he headed into Kaitlin's room and found his little girl standing up in her crib, tears running down her cheeks, lower lip stuck out in a pout. "Hey peanut," he cooed, lifting her out of the crib. "What's the matter?"

Kaitlin whimpered and snuggled against his shoulder. "Monster," she cried, pointing at her closet.

He rubbed her back and turned to look at the closed door. She had started to fear monsters two weeks ago at Gibbs house, making him check under every piece of furniture and in the closet every night. Tonight she had been asleep before they'd even made it up the stairs to her crib so he hadn't gone through the ritual. She must have had a nightmare. "Oh, peanut, there aren't any monsters, Daddy promises."

She whined and squirmed in his arms. Tony was too tired to go through the process of checking her room to get her back to sleep, so he grabbed her stuffed penguin from the crib and carried her back into his room. He settled her underneath his covers and climbed into bed with her, singing and rubbing her belly until she feel back to sleep. Her eyes fluttered shut and soon she was breathing deeply and evenly.

Tony smiled down at her before giving her a sweet little kiss on her forehead. "Sweet dreams, baby girl."

* * *

Kaitlin had taken to helping Jackson put cans on the shelves. Tony had driven up to Stillwater with his daughter a few days after Gibbs had called and said the store was almost ready. Now the toddler was happily following Grandpa Jack around the store _helping _him. And she had all the old ladies that stopped by the store throughout the day completely gushing over her.

Tony smiled. His baby girl had inherited his charm that was for sure. Of course, he couldn't blame them. She was incredibly cute trotting around the store with her little pigtails, white tee shirt, denim overalls and sneakers.

"Kelly used to follow him around too," Gibbs reminisced.

"Bet she just loved her grandpa," Tony remarked with a sad smile.

Gibbs sighed, heavily. "Thanks to the Core, she didn't get to see him that much. I wish they'd had a closer relationship before she died."

Tony watched as Kaitlin followed Jackson around, talking and smiling at him while he worked. There was a slight pain in his heart as he thought about Kelly never getting the chance to grow up and bring her children here... it was no wonder that Jackson had gotten attached to Kaitlin. She was as close as the older man was going to get to a great-grandchild. The trip to Stillwater had been just what they all needed, apparently.

Gibbs and Jackson needed to heal from Reynosa's reign of terror over them just as much as Tony and Kaitlin did.

Kaitlin was struggling to adapt to not having Tony in the same room with her when she slept. Her fear of monsters, Tony realized, was probably justified. Real life monsters had threatened her before, taken her father away from her, and she was desperate to keep her daddy with her. As if she knew that Tony was thinking about her recent obsession with monsters, her little green eyes turned towards him when she came to an unfamiliar corner of the store and she whimpered, "Dada... monsters!"

"No monsters here, Katie," Tony assured her, scooping her up off the floor. "Just a broom, baby girl."

"No! Make monster go bye-bye!" Kaitlin whined, burying her face against his shoulder.

Gibbs deftly moved the broom to a closet and closed the door so she wouldn't see. "Okay, the monsters are all gone," he said, cheerfully, smiling when the toddler opened her eyes to find the "monster" had vanished.

Kaitlin smiled, a look of relief on her face. Tony decided that it was probably time for lunch and then her nap. It would give Jackson and Gibbs time to finsih restocking the shelves without having to scare off the "monsters" every fifteen minutes or so.

In the kitchen he found some bread, peanut butter, and jelly. Tony put Kaitlin in the high chair and quickly made a sandwich for the two of them to split. His daughter was in love with peanut butter, she wore it proudly on her face after she ate it. Today really was no different. Tony chuckled while he cleaned her up. "You love your peanut butter," he mumbled.

Kaitlin grinned at him before yawning. Tony plucked her out of the high chair and carried her upstairs to their bedroom. Even though she was a toddler now, she still liked being snuggled and rocked before going to sleep. He sat down in the rocking chair and draped her favorite blanket over them and found a book, rocking while he read to her and snuggled with her. It didn't take her long to fall asleep.

Tony sat there, watching her sigh and dream. He had hoped that the trip to Stillwater would help her get over fear of monsters but so far it had only gotten worse. And perhaps it didn't settle him either... he was still weary of the real life monsters out there that could pose a threat to his baby girl.

He shifted and got out of the chair, heading over to the portable crib that Kaitlin really was getting too big for, and gently laid her inside. He tucked her blanket around her, made sure that Gwens was within reach and with a flick of his wrist he turned the baby monitor on. Running his fingers through his daughter's hair, Tony turned on his heel and made his way back downstairs to the kitchen where Gibbs and Jackson were having lunch.

"She asleep?" Gibbs asked between bites of his sandwich.

"Yeah. Went right down," Tony said, plopping down into a chair. "We'll see how long it lasts."

"You okay, Tony?" Jackson questioned, noticed the tired look in the younger man's eyes. "Seems like you could use a nap yourself."

Tony frowned, slightly. "Kaitlin isn't the only one worried about monsters. Except the monsters I worry about...are real. Paloma Reynosa got too close... this time, this time I was lucky... but the next time, the next monster that comes to town... I may not be so lucky."

Gibbs saw the inner turmoil in Tony. He could understand it because he felt those things too. They both had made a lot enemies in their time working in law enforcement and anyone of those enemies could use Kaitlin against them, to hurt her to hurt them. "You can't protect her from them all, Tony. Just... just have to do your best and hope for the best."

"Not exactly comforting words, boss," Tony drawled.

"I know. But it's the best I can offer," Gibbs sighed.

Tony rubbed his hands over his face and decided that Jackson was right... he needed a nap too.

* * *

Before dinner, Gibbs took Kaitlin down the playground. Kelly had loved going to the playground, her swings being her favorite part. It turned out that Kaitlin loved the swings too. As she sat in the bucket swing, laughing and smiling while Gibbs pushed her back and forth, he could see and hear Kelly. For a few seconds this little baby girl was Kelly.

Until she smiled, revealing her DiNozzo side and clapped her hands together, shouting, "More, Grampa!"

Gibbs grinned at her and gave her wish, pushing the swing a little bit higher. It warmed his heart to hear her giggle. Tony maybe worried about all the real life monsters in the world hurting his daughter and feeling guilty about his inability to protect her from all of them... but he was doing an amazing job being a father to Kaitlin. She was happy, healthy, and loved. It was what every child deserved.

He knew that it wasn't possible for all the children in the world to have such a warm and loving home like Kaitlin did. And he suspected that Tony made sure his baby got that because he had not gotten it as a child himself. Kaitlin had never known what it was like to live in fear of her father like Tony had.

"Boss, Jack says dinner is almost ready," Tony said, stepping up next to him. He smiled at the delightful look on his daughter's face while she was in the swing.

"Give her a couple of minutes," Gibbs said.

"You okay, boss?"

"Just thinking about Kelly. She loved the swings."

Tony looked over at Kaitlin sadly. She was smiling and giggling and no wonder Gibbs was missing his own daughter. If he could change the outcome of that crash years ago, he would. But he was powerless. "She sounds like she was great kid."

Gibbs nodded. "She was. You would have liked her. She enjoyed movies."

"Definitely a great kid."

The team leader didn't respond. He stopped he swing and gently took Kaitlin out, giving her a little kiss on her cheek. "You got one here too, Tony," he informed the senior field agent. "Cherish her."

Tony didn't need Gibbs to tell him that twice, but he replied anyways, "I cherish, her, always, boss."


	11. Bombshell

**Warnings: **None for this chapter.**  
**

**A/N: **I'm skipping over a couple of cases that we saw on the show for this idea that popped into my head. Feedback is very much appreciated! Enjoy!

* * *

Kaitlin was not having it that she had to go to daycare that morning.

Tony tried to slip out of the room but she was smart and quick and she would grab a hold of his pant leg and scream. "Come on, Katie," he said, gently, peeling her off of him again, "You love Miss Gina!"

"Dada, no go!" the toddler sobbed, stamping her little feet. "Stay, Dada!"

"Daddy hast to go to work, peanut," Tony told her, leaning down to wipe her tears. Bad idea. She latched onto his neck. "Katie. It's okay. I'll see you later."

Kaitlin out right refused to let him go. He knew that her return to daycare was going to be difficult. She had not been since the beginning of the summer. And after spending a few days in Stillwater with Tony, Gibbs, and Jackson, it was making it doubly difficult. But there was no other needed to go to work and someone was needed to take care of her.

Tony managed to wiggle out of her grasp and out of her reach quickly so he could dash out the door and shut it behind him before she could follow. As the door clicked shut, Kaitlin let out a wail that tore right through him. He knew that his daughter was with women that knew how to handle her anxiety, but it still broke his heart when he had to leave her sobbing and screaming for him like that. Not the start of the day he was looking for. Not at all.

* * *

Gibbs could tell the moment Tony stepped off the elevator that dropping Kaitlin off at daycare had not gone well. Since returning from Stillwater the toddler had been increasingly hard to settle into a routine. And Tony was starting to show signs of wear and tear...

"Sorry boss," the senior field agent mumbled, dropping his gear by his desk. "They keep telling me it's going to get better..."

"It will, DiNozzo," Gibbs promised him. "It just might take longer this time that's all. It's only bee a few days, okay? Give it more time."

"No wonder my father used to get drunk," Tony sighed, rubbing his temples.

Gibbs shook his head. Tony still believed that he was the cause of all his father's problems. The government couldn't keep Senior locked up long enough in the team leader's opinion.

Tony sat down and booted his computer up. Getting to work was the best way to distract himself from his broken heart over his daughter crying when he left her. Actually, he wouldn't call what she was doing crying when he left. He would call it wailing. While he waited for the computer to turn on he checked his voicemail, noticing that the red light was blinking. _Please don't be the daycare center..._

It wasn't the daycare center, thankfully, it was his father's lawyer, informing him that his father wished to speak with him. Tony slammed the phone down. Why did his father want to see him now? Was he going to try to beg for forgiveness again?

"Something wrong, Tony?" McGee asked, noticing the pensive look on the SFA's face.

"My father wants to see me," Tony replied, in a dark voice. "That was his lawyer."

"Did the lawyer say _why _he wants to see you?" Gibbs asked, suspiciously.

Tony shook his head. "Nope. Just that he wanted to talk to me, said he had something important to tell me."

Gibbs glanced at McGee for a moment, both agents feeling the same bad vibes. Senior never brought good news... Tony had almost lost Kaitlin when the elder man had shown up hoping to use her to repay a debt. "Are you going to go see him?"

"If I don't, he's just going to have the lawyer keep calling me... perhaps have him show up here," Tony mused, angrily. He reached for his keys... _this day just keeps getting better and better. _"Don't think this will take long, boss. I have nothing to say to the man. He hurt my little girl. As far as I'm concerned he got what he deserved."

"Do you want some company?" McGee offered, sheepishly. He really didn't think Tony should be going to prison to visit his father... alone.

Tony shook his head and put his coat back on. "No thanks, Probie. I'll be fine... honestly." And he left, leaving a bad feeling in both McGee and Gibbs' guts.

* * *

His father wasn't considered a dangerous criminal... although Tony would highly disagree with the judge putting Senior in a minimum security prison... but it at least allowed them to talk face to face and not through some pane of glass.

Tony could see that prison had not been good to his father. Senior had lost weight and there were dark circles underneath his eyes. If the man had not threatened his baby girl, Tony might have felt bad for him. He sat there, cold, stiff, and watched as his father sat across from him. "You wanted to see me," he said, not giving his father the chance to greet him.

Senior nodded, and swallowed. "Yes. I've been thinking about you... a lot lately... son."

"Don't call me son... we might share DNA but you haven't treated me like one," Tony snapped. "Why the sudden interest in me?"

"Things that I should have told you a long, long time ago, Anthony," Senior said, softly.

Tony's brow furrowed. "Dad. If you're going to try to tell me that you really did love me and didn't know how to show it to me... drinking was the only way to stop the pain of mom dying... I really don't want to hear it. I have a lot of work to do back at NCIS."

Senior's eyes grew sad and distance. "No, not going to tell you any of that. Not sure you'd believe me if I told you that I did love you... it's about... it's about your mother."

"Mom? You called me here to tell me something about Mom thirty years after she passed away?" Tony inquired.

"I should have told you when you were little but you were so close to Elizabeth... I didn't want to hurt your feelings. And as time passed, it didn't seem important," Senior said, sadly. "But it was wrong. Elizabeth always told me that you should know the truth someday. She would be... she would be disappointed that I didn't tell you."

Tony was confused. He wasn't sure what his father was getting at. And he really didn't want to be sitting here trying to guess. "Dad... I'm really pressed for time. Why don't you just tell me why I'm here?"

Senior sighed and looked away. "It's time that you know... Elizabeth... she wasn't... she wasn't your mother." He saw the look of betrayal, hurt cross his son's eyes. "Elizabeth and I were more of an... arranged marriage. We were young. We hated the idea of being together. When your biological mother showed up... she couldn't take care of you... it was too much for her. She was unmarried and... well.. that was highly frowned upon back then, Anthony."

He swallowed and clenched his fists. "So... Mom just decided to take me in? Just like at?" Tony asked, snapping his fingers.

His father nodded, gently. "Elizabeth couldn't have children. She wanted a baby. Her family was rich enough to doctor birth certificates and well, as you know, your mother had the tendency to disappear from the social world for months on end. No one questioned when you showed up. They just figured that was why Lizzie had vanished again."

"Just great. Do you have any other bombshells you want to drop on me?" Tony snarled, wanting to run from the room.

"Your mother, Junior... she's still alive..."

"Alive... where?"

Senior shrugged. "The last time I heard about her she was living on Nantucket... she came from money..."

Tony scoffed. "Of course she did. Is that all you know?"

"My lawyer was looking into it... I wanted to speak to you first," Senior said, honestly.

"Wonderful," Tony snapped, standing. "I need to get back to work. Nice chatting with you and oh... if you have anymore _news _to tell me... just don't... I'm better off not knowing."

Angrily, the younger man stalked out of the room, retrieved his weapon from the guards and fled the prison. But instead of going back to NCIS, he detoured to his daughter's daycare center. While he drove he did what he should done in the first place. Call his father's lawyer.


	12. Nantucket

**Warnings: **None for this chapter!

**A/N: **Happy Thursday everyone! Enjoy this next update!

**Dis, NCIS Fan,** Senior is still Tony's father. Tony was adopted by his "mother" to cover up that Senior got another woman pregnant. Hope that clears things up.

* * *

Tony sat rigidly at a corner table in _D.C Beans, _his daughter fast asleep in her stroller. After picking her up from daycare early, much to her delight, he had arranged to meet with his father's lawyer at the coffee shop. He had let Vance know that he needed a few days for family business and then had shut his phone off. He was sure that by now Gibbs and McGee were trying to locate him. Hopefully he would be long gone before they did.

"Agent DiNozzo?" a deep voice said, a tall figure taking a seat across from him. "I'm Mr. Carlson, your father's lawyer. You wanted to speak to me."

"Yeah. He told you had information on my mother," Tony said, drily. He glanced at his sleeping daughter. "I want… I want to find her." _I want answers. _

Carlson nodded and pulled a file form his briefcase. "Your mother was quite young when she had you, a junior at Emerson College in Boston. Her parents wanted to make the pregnancy and scandal go away… and so didn't your father... he was a married man after all... Elizabeth DiNozzo wanted a child… the two families were close… they arranged for Elizabeth and your father to adopt you. The birth certificate was changed to reflect that."

Tony felt his stomach tighten. He had loved his mother… or the woman he thought was his mother… he had named his daughter after her. It was difficult to wrap his brain around the fact that she _had not _been his mother after all. "My father said… my father said she's still alive."

"Yes. Very much so," Carlson replied. "She lives on Nantucket."

"Is she… is she married?"

"Widowed."

"Other children?"

"Yes… a son and a daughter…"

Tony took a deep, calming breath. Not only did he have a living, breathing mother… he had siblings. Anger bubbled underneath the surface, quiet, controlled rage. He understood keeping it from him when he was child, especially after Elizabeth had passed away… but to keep it from him in his adult years… it just wasn't acceptable. Kaitlin began to stir in her stroller, rubbing her eyes and looking about the coffee shop slightly confused. "Do you have an address?" he asked the lawyer, handing his daughter a plastic container of cheerios.

Carlson looked skeptical for a moment. And then he handed over the folder that contained all the information he had found for Senior. "What are you going to do, Agent DiNozzo?"

Honestly, Tony wasn't sure. There was a part of him that wanted to meet her… but there was also another part of him that was terrified that she wouldn't want anything to do with him… another parent rejecting him… but he had to take the chance right? What if something good came out of this? He glanced down at his daughter. He hoped someday that she would reconnect with her mother, regardless of how Amanda had left them. Kaitlin grinned at him, her green eyes sparkling while she munched on her cereal. Slowly, a smile crossed his face, and he whispered, "I think we're taking a road trip to Nantucket."

* * *

Gibbs was pacing her lab. Abby hadn't seen him like this in a long time and it was making her nervous. "Where was the last location he used his cell phone at?" the team leader asked, again, as if he was hoping that the answer would change.

Abby sighed and swallowed, nervously, "At Kaitlin's daycare center. He called NCIS… probably Director Vance. Maybe he just needs a few days after seeing his dad, Gibbs."

"Vance said he needed the days to tend to a family matter."

"It doesn't mean he's in trouble."

Gibbs would beg to differ. Something was off. Tony wouldn't just disappear like this, especially with Kaitlin in tow, on a whim. Something had to be going on that he didn't want the team to know about. He suddenly wished that McGee had gone with the senior field agent…

"Boss," McGee said, appearing in the lab. "Tony's not answering his house phone. His neighbors said that he came home for a while, appeared to pack up to take a trip and left."

"Did he have Kailtin with him?" Gibbs asked, his gut screaming now. _Come on, Tony, don't shut us out like this. _

McGee glanced at Abby, briefly, and nodded his head. "Yes. According to the neighbors he had Kaitlin with him. There didn't appear to be any signs of distress or that he was in trouble, just that he had packed up to take a few days off."

Gibbs ran his hands through his hair. What the hell was DiNozzo up too? They had only been back from Stillwater a few days and now he was taking off to… who knew where. And because it didn't appear that Tony was in trouble, there was nothing Gibbs could do. _That's the way Tony wanted it, _a small voice of reason said in the back of his mind. There was really only one thing he could do… turning on his heel he fled the lab. If Tony thought he could just disappear like this, the senior field agent had another thing coming.

* * *

"Hey peanut," Tony said softly, waking Kaitlin up when they arrived at the hotel on Nantucket. "We're here."

Kaitlin squirmed in her seat and rubbed her eyes. She had slept the entire overnight drive to get to the island. Tony unbuckled her and picked her up, grabbing their shared bag for the few days they were going to be spending here. He closed the SUV up and with the key in hand, Tony unlocked the door to their hotel room.

Dropping the bag down by the table, he flipped the light on and kicked the door shut, turning and latching the look. He gently put Kaitlin down on the full sized bed. "Dada… hungree," she whined, sticking her lower lip out in a pout.

Tony chuckled and found a container of strawberries that he had packed for her. He had every intention of getting them a proper breakfast, but while he settled into the room and came up with a game plan, these would hold the little hunger beast over. He wandered into the bathroom, washed his face and brushed his teeth. Afterwards he found a directory in the night stand drawer and sat down on the bed with his baby girl and began flipping through it. "Guess we should start looking for some place to eat breakfast, huh peanut? And then… Daddy is going to need to take a nap with you… or maybe I should call Grandpa Gibbs first… he's going to be mad at me."

"Gampa, mad?" Kaitlin asked, her little brow furrowed in deep thought. Gibbs had never been mad_ at _her.

"Not at you sweetheart," Tony assured her, kissing her cheek and then running his fingers through her hair. "Not at you," he repeated, softly.

Kaitlin was happy with that answer and went back to munching on her strawberries while Tony sat there watching her. He sighed and pulled out his cell phone, dreading the phone call he was about to make. Gibbs was going to be pissed but Tony had purposefully disappeared like this. He didn't want a witness around if things went South.

Gibbs answered on the first ring. "_DiNozzo! Where the hell are you!" _

Tony chuckled, silently. "Might as well tell you before McGee traces my phone… Nantucket."

"_Nantucket? What the hell are you doing out there?" _Gibbs asked, angry, relieved.

"Like I told Vance—family matter," Tony answered, honestly.

"_Tony. You don't have family out in Nantucket." _

"Actually… turns out… I do. That was why… that was why Senior wanted to see me."

Gibbs let out a frustrated breath. "_What is going on, Tony? Talk to me."_

Tony shook his head and rubbed Kaitlin's back. "Boss… I'm fine. Katie's fine. We'll be back in a few days—promise." He hung up, knowing how pissed his boss was going to be, but he was miles and miles away so there was no fear of a head slap. He sighed heavily.

Kaitlin looked at him, curiosity in her eyes. "Gampa mad?"

"Yes, just a little," Tony told her, truthfully. He kissed her cheek and scooped her up off the bed. Grabbing his keys and the key for the hotel room, he ventured back out to his car. "Let's go have breakfast baby."

* * *

McGee hid from Gibbs down in Abby's lab. After Tony had hung up on him that morning it had not been pleasant to be around the team leader. And what was worse, the team could do nothing about it. Yes, they had a location on Tony and Kailtin—a hotel on Nantucket, but they had no idea _why _the senior field agent had just taken off like this.

Abby wasn't nearly as pissed off as Gibbs, but she was deeply troubled. Especially after she learned that Tony disappeared after going to see his dad. "I wish we had grounds to look into his credit cards and go question his father…"

"Tony isn't in distress… he just needed a few days I guess," McGee said, with a sigh. "I'm sure everything really is fine."

"You don't believe that," Abby accused him.

"No. I don't."

"Theories?"

McGee shook his head. "I don't even know where to begin when it comes to Tony and his father. That's a complicated relationship."

Abby chewed on her lower lip. "He doesn't have any family in Nantucket… I checked."

_So much for this being about a family matter, _McGee thought as his cell rang. Glancing down at the screen he realized that it was a Massachusetts number. Tony. The only reason he was contacting him on the hotel's line was surely because he didn't want Abby or Gibbs knowing he was calling. Frowning, McGee told Abby that he had to take the call and decided to take it in the elevator. Flipping the emergency switch, he answered, "Tony, what's going on?"

"_I need you to do something for me, McGee."_

"Fine. But first you need to tell me why you just up and left."

"_My mother is alive." _

"What? I… I don't understand… you said you were at the hospital when she died."

Tony sighed, he could hear Kaitlin singing in the background. "_Elizabeth DiNozzo wasn't my biological mother. I need you to do your thing and find out an address for my real mother. My dad's lawyer could only narrow her down to Nantucket." _

McGee hesitated briefly. Gibbs was going to find out that he was doing this because well… Gibbs knew everything… but still… Tony very rarely asked for help on a personal level like this. "Ok. But I need a name first."

"_Check your email._"

"Wait, you sent it before I even said I would help?"

"_Yeah," _Tony replied, with a breathless laugh, "_because I knew you would help. And I know you can get me the information that I need." _


	13. Reunion

**Warnings:** No spoilers for this chapter.

**A/N:** Hello wonderful readers, I come with the gift of a new chapter for the weekend. I'm glad that everyone is liking this new angle.

**Dis- **_You're welcome for the clarification._

**NCIS Fan-** _Guess you'll find out in this chapter if she is suitable to be a grandmother to Kaitlin or not._

**Ginger- **_Tony and Tim's relationship is probably my favorite one on the show. __  
_

* * *

Salty air hit his nostrils as he pulled himself from the car. Tony stared at the sweet, modest house that Tim had traced his biological mother too. He was surprised that she lived here. Not that there was anything wrong with a three-bedroom house near the ocean… just that she had come from money… this wasn't where he would have expected her to end up.

Tony licked his lips, tasting the salt in the air, and slammed his door shut. He went around the side of the car and opened the other door to get his little girl out of her seat. She offered him a big grin when he started to unbuckle her. If his mother was uneasy about seeing him maybe Kaitlin would soften the blow. Really, how could anyone resist that sweet face? He took a deep breath, "Ready to do this, peanut? Let's hope your nana is happy to see us or this is going to be a very short visit."

Kaitlin titled her head to the side. "Nana?" she repeated with a bit of a confused glint in her green eyes. "Who nana?"

"Daddy's mommy," he replied, opening the gate and heading up the cobblestone walk way.

"Mommy?" she repeated, still very much confused.

Tony felt his heart ache. Kaitlin had no idea what a mother was, her mother had turned her back on them and cut all ties with her. He didn't know what to say to her and he realized that his daughter was going to be finding out soon enough that she was different than the other kids at her daycare… that her mother was absent.

As he approached the front door he heard the sounds of someone trimming hedges out back. Detouring to the back yard, Tony found an average height, slender woman with greying blonde hair working in her garden. Tony paused, feeling his heart hammer against his ribcage. He had faced hardened criminals and terrorists and the idea of meeting his mother for the first time was making him want to run for the hills. But he didn't… instead he cleared his throat and managed to rasp, "Sylvia Fairfield?"

"Yes, you've found her," the woman said, standing and turning to face him. Her green eyes—his green eyes—widened when she saw him standing there. "Anthony," she gasped, tears sprung in her eyes.

"How did you... how do you know my name?"

"You look just like your father… a face I haven't seen in… well… in thirty eight years."

Tony swallowed, nervously, his arm tightening around Kaitlin's small waist. "I… guess then… I'm sorry I just showed up out of the blue."

Sylvia shook her head. "Anthony, do not be sorry," she whispered, putting her garden sheers down and moving towards him. "Do you know how long I've waited for you to just show up out of the blue?"

"You have?" he asked, uncertainly.

"Yes. Especially after I heard of Elizabeth's passing. I had moved away from the Hamptons by then, but it was all over the news," Sylvia responded, sadly. "Your mother was a troubled soul but a beautiful one. I'm sorry that you didn't get to know her fully."

Tony looked away. His heart yearning for Elizabeth to be alive, so he could have had that more normal childhood. Something told him she wouldn't have shipped him away so much. He glanced back at the woman who had carried him in her womb for nine months. "Why… why didn't you… why didn't you come looking for me?"

Sylvia saw the pain in his eyes. "Oh, Anthony, I wanted to. It broke my heart when my parents made me give you up. I left that life after giving birth to you. I convinced myself that even if Elizabeth was gone… you were better off living off of your father's money… the Paddington's money."

He felt his shoulders go stiff. While the Paddington's money had helped him getting a house and all the things that he would need to take care of Kaitlin he had been shut off from his father's money. And it had been his father's money that had almost cost him his little girl. "Looks can be deceiving," he stated, coolly.

"I realized that all too late, Anthony," she whispered, "You were already a freshman at Ohio State."

"You knew… you knew I went to Ohio State?" he asked, shock on his face.

She smiled, sweetly. "Yes. My husband was a huge college sports fan. We were even in the stands when Ohio State came to play BC and this upstart freshman started the game."

He recalled that game—it had been the one that put him on the map of professional scouts. "You… you were there?"

"Even though I gave you up… you were still my son."

"My father never even came to my games."

"Your father was a cold hearted bastard, Anthony. And I fell for his charm and good looks."

Tony put Kaitlin down in the grass when she started to wiggle in his arms. Immediately she went off to chase a Monarch butterfly, giggling. Sylvia took his hand and guided him towards a patio table and chairs, gesturing for him to sit down. He did so as she let go and took the seat opposite of him.

Sylvia could see how hard this was for him. She didn't blame him. He was thirty-eight years old and being handed a blow. "Are you… angry with me… Anthony?"

He shook his head and watched as Kaitlin played with the butterfly. "No. I feel like I should be though."

She was puzzled by that answer, "What do you mean?"

"You gave me up… many people would see that as abandonment. But… it wasn't like you _wanted _to leave me. Your hand was forced."

"It was. If I had to do it over again I would have left school and went off to raise you by myself."

Kaitlin wandered back over to him, bored with her butterfly friend now and raised her hands towards her father. "Dada… up!"

Tony reached down and picked her up, situating her on his lap. He didn't envy his mother's position and perhaps that was why he wasn't angry with her. After all, Amanda had forced his hand in similar fashion. He had just chosen to keep his baby instead of giving that baby up for adoption. "I think… I think my father was looking for some kind of redemption when he told me about you."

Sylvia was interested in this. The Anthony DiNozzo, senior that she had known was never interested in redemption or forgiveness. "Elizabeth would have told you, Anthony, when you were ready to hear it. But… well… after she died… your father did very little to honor her memory. It doesn't surprise me that he waited so long to tell you the truth."

"He hated the sight of me," Tony admitted. "I always thought it was because I reminded him of her. But now I realize… I was just a burden he didn't want."

"I always suspected it was Elizabeth that really wanted the child… not your father," Sylvia confessed. "Perhaps she thought a child would fix her."

Tony shook his head and ran his fingers through Kaitlin's hair. "It only made her more troubled I think. She tried… she tried so hard to be a good mother to me…"

Sylvia wanted to wash away the thirty-eight years of terrible history for her son. When she handed her baby over she never once thought that he was going to be growing up in a loveless home, looking for approval from a man that was never going to give it to him. What had she done? Guilt overwhelmed her and she wanted to burst into tears all over again just like the night her baby had been taken from her arms for her never to see again. She reached out and put her hand to his cheek. He didn't flinch from her touch. "I'm sorry, Anthony. I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you…"

"I… I got by okay," Tony said with shrug. "Found other places to belong. Other people to call family."

"Gampa?" Kaitlin asked, turning her green eyes towards her father.

"Gampa?" Sylvia repeated.

Tony let a smile grace his features for the first time since arriving. "My boss. He's more of a grandfather to her than my own father…"

Sylvia relaxed and stroked his cheek with her thumb. "I'm glad you found good people, Anthony, to help fill the void."

"Are you sorry that I showed up?"

"No. Never. Even if I didn't raise you… you're still my son, Anthony."

Tony blinked back his tears as he pulled away from her. Kaitlin must have seen them because she pulled herself up into a standing position and rubbed her little nose against his, giving him an Eskimo kiss, just like he would do when she was sad. He laughed, sadly, "Thanks peanut."

Kaitlin slid off his lap and decided to go play with the butterflies again. Tony stood and wiped the tears from his eyes. "We should probably get going so you can enjoy the rest of your day…"

Sylvia stood with him and pulled her son into her arms. Tony dropped his head to her shoulder finally letting the tears fall from his eyes. She cried with him but comforted him at the same time. There was so much hurt in both their pasts, too many regrets. It was time for them to make up for all those years they had lost, forced apart by circumstances that had been out of their control. She pulled back and gave him a little kiss on the cheek. "Stay for dinner. I want to get to know the man my baby boy has become."

* * *

Erin noticed that McGee's posture had been nervous and tense all day. Gibbs was still sulking around NCIS, pissed off at Tony for shutting them out, but since returning from hiding in Abby's lab the junior agent had been jittery around the team leader. "Okay," she said when the former marine had disappeared for coffee, "Spill. You talked to Tony didn't you?"

McGee looked up, trying to be innocent. "What are you talking about? I was down in the lab all day." She threw him a look as if to say _oh please. _He sighed. "Alright, he did call me. He wanted me to… find an address for him."

"An address?" Erin repeated to clarify. "Who's address?"

"I promised him I wouldn't say anything."

"Are you trying to tell me that he took his daughter on a classified mission? Come on, McGee… what is he doing on Nantucket?"

McGee ran his tongue over his lips. "It's a personal matter, Erin. I don't think he wants me blabbing. When he's ready he'll call and let everyone else know. All I can tell you that when I talked to him they were both okay."

Erin wanted to learn more but she didn't press him. And then Gibbs walked back into the bullpen with his coffee and demanding an update on the robbery case they were working at the moment. In all the chaos of Tony disappearing to Nantucket the other two agents almost forgot about their case. "We matched the finger prints on the safe."

Gibbs glared at his two agents. "Then why are you still sitting here? Go pick the guy up!"

"Y-yes, boss," McGee stammered as he grabbed his gear, ushering Erin quickly out of the squad room.

He watched them go and then let his eyes fall on Tony's empty desk, feeling the anger and worry creep into his senses all over again. Gibbs finished his coffee and tossed the cup into the wastebasket at the senior field agent's desk. He knew that Tony would come to him when he was ready but the longer he was gone, hiding from the people he trusted the most, the more anger and fear Gibbs felt. And there was very little holding him back from taking off to Nantucket himself.


	14. Mom

**Warnings:** No spoilers for this chapter.

**A/N:** Hello wonderful readers, I come with the gift of a new chapter for the weekend. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Kaitlin had completely won over Sylvia and the women in her book club.

Tony sat in Sylvia's backyard, sipping some homemade lemonade that Mrs. Wilkes had brought by and watched as his daughter constantly went over to the book group enjoying the sun and chatting and asked for bites of brownies. He had taken an extended leave from work, wanting to use that time to get to know his mother and allow his daughter to get to know her grandmother. There were few motherly figures in his little girl's life. Kaitlin needed this as much as he did.

As he watched Kaitlin climb up into her grandmother's lap, her little face covered in chocolate, Tony chuckled to himself. Spending time with Sylvia made him realize that his mother and he had a lot in common. They had both broken free from the tight confines of the gilded cage. If she had stayed, grown up to be what her parents had wanted… Tony had to wonder if she would have welcomed him back into her life with such open arms. Even the women of her book club were thrilled that mother and son had been reunited—and that he had brought such an adorable daughter with him.

Oh, his little charmer, able to diffuse even the most awkward situations.

Kaitlin looked up, nibbling on yet another treat the women had offered her and she smiled at him. She stayed there, sitting in Sylvia's lap for a long duration, nibbling on sweet treats and watching the woman discuss the book they were reading, even if she had no idea what they were talking about. But Tony could tell that she was starting to get tired and sure enough, her lower lip stuck out in a pout as she slid off of Sylvia's lap and made her way across the lawn towards Tony. Large tears were rolling down her cheeks by the time she reached her father.

"Aw, what's wrong, peanut?" he asked, picking her up and snuggling her on his lap. "Are you sleepy?"

"Yes," she whined, rubbing her tear stained face in his shirt.

Tony stroked her back and watched as she curled up and fell asleep. In that instant she was not a baby anymore—she was this sweet, curious little girl that was recharging her batteries to keep exploring the world around her. A piece of him was saddened that she was no longer an infant, but another piece of him was excited to watch her as she continued to grow. He placed a kiss on the top of her head not regretting for one moment his decision to keep her and raise her on his own.

His mother had been proud of him for stepping up to the plate. She wished she had been stronger to do the same for him. He learned that if she had she would have taken him to New York City, where she could have worked as a secretary to make some money, where he could have been enriched in the culture of Broadway, the people of the city. It would have been hard for her but he would have been loved and accepted, not treated like he was worthless.

Sylvia had finished with her book group and the ladies were heading home, leaving mother and son alone in the back yard to enjoy the sunshine. "The ladies enjoyed having her around."

"My co-workers say she has my charm," Tony said with a chuckle.

"Well, if there is anything nice to say about your father was that he is charming," Sylvia said, sipping her lemonade.

Tony continued to run his fingers through Kaitlin's hair. "Hard to give him redeeming qualities when he's in jail for trying to sell my daughter. And the worst part wasn't that he put the whole thing together, it was that he didn't think I could do this."

Sylvia frowned. The thought that Senior had disregarded family, flesh and blood, disgusted her. "Your father ever only thought about money, Anthony. I know that it's hard not to take it personal, he is your father after all, but look on the bright side, you were able to keep him out of Kaitlin's life."

"That's just it. I don't think I can," Tony lamented. "He expects me to drop everything to go speak to him, every time I do go visit he begs for me to lift the restraining order… I know his lawyers are going to get him out of that jail in no time…"

"Anthony, you're Kaitlin's custodial parent… you have every right to keep him out of her life until she's eighteen. When that time comes she can make up her mind if she wants to meet him," Sylvia replied, reaching out and placing her hand on his knee. "Come on, why don't you come inside and I'll make us some lunch and you can lay Kaitlin down in the guest room for her nap?"

He sighed and nodded, standing up and resting his daughter against his shoulder. He followed his mother inside the house and went to the first floor guest room where he laid Kaitlin down on the bed, pulling the knitted blanket over her. Tony smoothed her back and was about to leave the room when his phone rang. Cursing, Tony stepped out of the room before the ringing could wake the little girl and flipped the phone open. "Gibbs…checking up on me?"

His boss sounded pissed, and Tony supposed he had every right too—after all Tony had just taken off without any explanation. "_You take off, don't tell anyone where you're going… and don't expect me to call? What the hell is going on with you DiNozzo?"_

Tony sighed. "I'm fine, boss, really I am. I wasn't lying when I told Vance that I had a family matter to tend to."

"_I thought we were family, Tony, any reasons you wanted to keep secrets from family?"_

"Because I didn't know how things were going to go here in Nantucket, boss."

"_And what things would that be, Tony?"_

He took a deep breath, peaked into the bedroom and looked at Kaitlin sleeping soundly. "The day my father requested to see me… he told me… he told me that my mother was alive."

Gibbs was silent for a second, processing what Tony had just said to him. "_Elizabeth is alive?"_

"Oh, no, Elizabeth DiNozzo died when I was eight… but she wasn't my biological mother," Tony remarked, rubbing his hand over his eyes. "My father couldn't keep it in his pants and got another woman pregnant… Elizabeth was kind enough to adopt me…"

"_Your biological mother lives in Nantucket." _

"She moved here shortly after giving birth to me. Finished school, got married, had two more children."

"_Tony… I'm sorry. But I wish you had let one of us in… let us know what was going on." _

He licked his lips. "I told Tim. And before you get mad at him… I told him to keep it secret. I just… I didn't know how this was going to go…"

Gibbs sighed. "_And how did it go?_"

"Well… she… wants to get to know me… she already loves Kaitlin."

"_Of course she does. Who wouldn't?" _

It was true, Tony realized as he looked in on his daughter again. Everyone that met her instantly fell in love with her, well except his father…and her mother… but other than that…everyone that met her, loved her. Kaitlin knew how to charm and worm her way into anyone's heart. "Yeah. She definitely has been a buffer. Not that my mother has been horrible to me but… she feels guilty about giving me up…even more so when she heard how terrible my childhood was."

Gibbs could hear the slight resentment in his voice. "_And her giving you up… knowing that your siblings had a good life… that makes you angry."_

Tony shrugged. "A little. I know she didn't have much of a choice and she doesn't blame me for being angry… I just… things would have been different. Maybe I'd be able to let people in more. Maybe… I wouldn't have felt so alone…"

"_Not alone anymore, Tony. You have the team, me, Kaitlin and now, it sounds like your mother. Life isn't so bad." _

"Dada?" Kaitlin whimpered, sitting up on the bed and rubbing her sleepy eyes.

Tony promised to call Gibbs later and entered the guest room. He smiled at her and picked her up off the bed. He kissed her warm cheek. Gibbs was right. He wasn't alone anymore. He had the team, and his daughter and now his mother wanted to make amends and be a part of his life. Elizabeth had told him when he was little that good things came to those that were patient. Well, he had been patiently waiting for over thirty years to find love and family and he finally had it. However, unconventional it was.

Sylvia had made them sandwiches for lunch and smiled when she saw that Kaitlin was going to be joining them. "Does she like peanut butter and jelly?"

"One of her favorites," Tony said, putting the toddler in the high chair next to the table. He sat down next to her and grabbed his sandwich. He watched his mother make his daughter lunch. "Mom?" he questioned, uncertainly. When he saw her froze, he blurted, "Sorry… just thought… I mean… I don't have to call you that if you don't want me too."

"Anthony… you… you're my son… yes, I want you to call me that," Sylvia said with tears in her eyes. "I never thought I'd hear you say it to me."

"You're… you're okay with it then?" he inquired, nervously.

"Yes. Absolutely," she whispered, going to him and hugging him, tightly for good measure.

As she went back to making Kaitlin's sandwich, Tony stated, "You should come to Washington sometime… you know to meet the people that… that Kaitlin and I care about."

Sylvia smiled, warmly at him, "I think I'd like that."


	15. Foreign Enemies

**Warnings:** Spoilers for "Enemies Foreign"

**A/N:** I apologize about the long wait. I hope that the Tony, Zoe and Kaitlin one shots held you over a little bit. So, I'll keep this short! Enjoy! Feedback is always appreciated!

* * *

It was dark when Tony pulled up to his house after the long drive home from Nantucket. Kaitlin had fallen asleep somewhere around New Jersey and hadn't stirred since. Tony climbed out of the SUV, his muscles aching and a hot bath calling his name once he settled his little girl in her bed.

They had been gone for two weeks, getting to know Sylvia, learning about her life and bonding. Kaitlin had taken to her grandmother quickly. Tony was grateful to have found his mother. She had made sure that they had a lunch packed for the road before they lift early and she had promised to come see them soon. For the first time in his life, besides Elizabeth DiNozzo, Tony felt the love of a true family member. And it felt pretty damn good to know that there was someone out there that loved him that was actually related to him.

Well, Kaitlin loved him, and she was related, but this was different, Tony thought as he opened the back door to the car and looked at the small girl cuddled up in her car seat, dreaming away.

He gently retrieved Kaitlin from her car seat, grabbed her bag and headed up the front porch to the door. The light flicked on, sensing movement and Tony found his key. He unlocked the door and stepped inside. He took a deep breath, breathing in the scent of the candles that Erin had given him for Christmas. It felt good to be home. It felt good to know where he came from. Finally so many pieces had fallen into place.

Tony disabled the alarm and carried Kaitlin upstairs to her bedroom. She let out a heavy sigh in her sleep when he laid her down. Slowly he peeled her jacket off of her, her sneakers and set them down on the nearby chair. He watched her sleep for a moment, the little expressions that she made… he had wondered where some of them came from when she had first been born, but now as he watched her—he knew—Sylvia. He smiled at this thought, leaned down and kissed his little girl on her cheeks. "Sweet dreams, peanut."

* * *

Gibbs watched as his SFA stepped off the elevator for the first time in two weeks.

Tony looked more relaxed since leaving on his trip. His shoulders were not as tense and the dark circles underneath his eyes were gone. It had been a good trip for both father and daughter as the baby had gone to daycare relatively easy earlier that morning. He strode to his desk, dropped his backpack and greeted his team without even batting an eyelash.

Erin and Tim exchanged glances, but decided not to pursue their line of questioning, despite having a handful of them. Instead they went back to work, silently sipping coffee and eating bagels.

"Been quiet around here without ya, DiNozzo," Gibbs said with a little smirk.

"Do you want me to make up for the lost time, boss," Tony suggested, "because I have an eight hour car ride with a toddler under my belt. Lots to talk about. I bet it will fill up all that quiet you had for the last two weeks."

Gibbs chuckled. He could imagine. Kaitlin was an active toddler, always on the go. Being confined to the car that long must have been torture for her. Perhaps that was why she had gone to daycare so easily that morning. He smiled to himself and went back to his own work. While he understood the need for Tony to reach out to his mother and to get to know her, taking the weeks off to do so… it was nice to have his whole team back together.

Vance had kept them on light rotation and to be honest they were starting to get bored. Now that Tony was home and back to work they had been put back into the rotation. Gibbs was certain that the Director was going to need them with the upcoming conference for security detail, unless of course they were handed a case. Sure enough, his cell phone gave out a shrill ring and he flipped it open, listened and then snapped it shut. He stood reaching for his coffee and noticed with amusement that his agents all began to grab their gear.

Tony slipped into his coat and then slipped his backpack over his shoulder. "Where we going, boss?"

"No where. That was Ducky. Wants my opinion on something," Gibbs said with a slight smile. "As you were, men."

"So… we don't have a case?" Tim asked as Gibbs walked away.

"Not yet, McGee!" Gibbs called before stepping into the elevator. He rode it down to autopsy, sipping his coffee. When he arrived, Ducky turned to greet him.

Ducky was dressed in his scrubs, performing autopsies on three bodies. "Ah, Jethro, come have a look and see what our friends over at the Coast Guard has given us."

Gibbs strode over and looked down at the three dead men. "Not much of a present, eh, Duck?"

"Well, it is an interesting puzzle. The Coast Guard informed me that these three men were on a fishing trip, dumped some crates into the water and then opened fire on the cutter," the medical examiner replied, "however, our naval officer, the captain of the fising boat, here was on leave… helping his brother pay some bills... he does not have gun powder residue on his hands. In fact, none of these men have residue, indicating that they did not fire any weapons. Our naval officer was killed with a small caliber weapon to the head… not like the heavy armory of the cutter."

"Coast Guard gave you a faulty report to cover something up, ya think?" Gibbs asked.

Ducky shrugged. "It is possible. I sent up what evidence the Coast Guard did allow us to have to Abby. Perhaps she will find something."

Gibbs finished his coffee and threw the empty cup away. "Well, my team was looking for a little excitement now that Tony is back."

"Ah… and how is young Anthony? Finding out that your birth mother is actually alive after all these years must be… slightly upsetting," Ducky suggested.

"It did him some good, Duck, that trip. Do they have a lot to learn about one another? Yes. I think with time Tony and his mother are going to be fine," Gibbs said.

"I do hope someone goes down to that prison to give Mr. DiNozzo a piece of their mind," Ducky spat, angrily. "Keeping a secret like this for all these years. Distasteful."

Gibbs smirked. He had thought about going down to confront Senior himself, but listening to Tony talk about his mother… well, something told him that when she came to visit her son in Washington she was going to paying a visit to Senior. "Tony wouldn't want anyone to make a fuss, Ducky, you know that."

Ducky frowned. "The boy should know that he's worth something, Jethro. And someone should clue his father into this."

Tony appeared then, as if one cue, but his face was tight, and there was tension in his shoulders. "Boss. We have visitors upstairs."

"Visitors?"

"Mossad."

His tension was suddenly understandable. The last time Mossad had been around Tony had been attacked in his own home, forced to kill the officer that had come at him to protect himself and his daughter. Afterwards, they had learned that it had been Eli David that had used Tony and Kaitlin to manipulate Ziva into doing a mission, leaving her to die in Somalia. As far as the team knew, Eli had no idea that Ziva was alive and living in the United States. Tony felt an incredible urge to rush to his little girl's daycare and bring her back to NCIS, to keep her safe from Mossad, to keep her safe from Eli David.

Gibbs glanced once at Ducky before taking a deep breath. He reached out and gently cupped Tony's shoulder. "Hey. They are not going to get their hands on Kaitlin. We're going to do everything we can to protect her, alright?"

Tony shook his head and stepped back. Promises were not going to calm his nerves. Those people had threatened his daughter, had broken into his home and tried to kill him. He had managed to fight them off that night but… would he be so lucky the next time? "I don't… I don't like this, Gibbs."

"Neither do I, Tony," Gibbs assured him, moving towards the elevator. He briefly nodded at Ducky, silently asking him to keep him updated, and left the room with Tony.

"If they go after my little girl…"

"They're going to have to go through me, DiNozzo."

Gibbs turned around in the elevator and gave him a hard glare to prove his point. He needed his agent to be on his game and if Tony was worrying too much about his daughter's safety, the SFA wouldn't be on top of his game.

Tony climbed into the elevator, shoving his hands into his pockets. He knew that Gibbs was trying to calm him, but he didn't feel very calm. First day back and he already was feeling the pressure. He missed Nantucket already.

* * *

Amit Hadar stood silent in the conference room at NCIS. Once the bodies of the three smugglers had been found and then handed over to NCIS, Hadar knew that he had to make his presence known. Malachi and Liat would be found out soon enough as well if he did not…

"I don't know why you're here, Officer Hadar," Gibbs snapped as he entered the conference room. "But if Eli David thinks he's going to get help from me…"

"Shalom, Agent Gibbs," Hadar said with a smile. "Ziva always spoke highly of you. It is a pleasure to finally meet."

Gibbs jaw clenched and scowled. "Why are you here? The last time Mossad showed up I nearly lost an agent. So, you can see why I'm not too happy to see you, Hadar." _I need to protect my team… Kaitlin. _

Hadar sighed and went to sit down. He had prepared a cup of tea and he sipped it, carefully. "I have a team tracking a group of Palestinian assassins. They were smuggled into the country by some fisherman… does that ring a bell?"

The former marine paused, thinking about the bodies down in autopsy at that moment, the ones that Ducky was investigating. It now made sense why the Coast Guard had given them a fake report… "They killed the smugglers, not the Coast Guard. Why are they here?" When Hadar hesitated in answering, Gibbs became hostile. "WHY ARE THEY HERE!"

"Murder, of course. They are here to assassinate Eli David."

"Eli David is in Israel. He hasn't left in years. My Intel says so."

Hadar was not surprised that Gibbs was keeping track of Eli, especially after what had happened with Agent DiNozzo. "Your Intel is wrong. He is here, in Washington, and he would very much like to speak to you, Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs realized, as he looked into the Mossad officer's eyes, that he had very little choice in the matter. But if it meant protecting Tony, Kaitlin, and the rest of his team, then he'd do it. He was not about to let El David intimidate him.


	16. Deadly Outcome

**Warnings:** Slight spoilers for "Enemies Foreign", "Friends and Lovers"

**A/N:** It's a short chapter I know, but where it stopped was the natural stopping point. I promise for a much longer chapter next time :)

* * *

Eli David did not look as cruel and sinister as Gibbs had once pictured him. Perhaps, that made him worse because he hid beneath the charm of an old man. However, Gibbs knew that underneath it all was a snake just waiting to show off his venomous talons and sink them into you when the moment was right.

Gibbs felt every hair on the back of his neck stand on edge, his nerves fraying as he sat in the presence of Eli at a small, local diner. This man before him had used Tony and Kaitlin to get Ziva to do his will. He had threatened an innocent baby and made his own daughter believe that she wasn't worthy of affection, family and friends. Gibbs knew that he couldn't let his guard down, that Eli could very well try to use Tony and Kaitlin against him…

"My daughter had an affinity for you, Agent Gibbs," Eli said with a crafty smile. "It is too bad we did not meet before she died."

"Your daughter would have made a hell of an agent if given the proper training," Gibbs retorted, calmly, not giving away that he knew Ziva was actually alive. "What do you want from me? Officer Hadar said you were insistent that I speak with you."

Eli ate the plate of food that was in front of him, not caring that at any moment someone could take a shot at him. "Director Vance has asked me to speak at your conference. Naturally, the State Department offered up extra security for my protection."

Gibbs was confused. Why was he telling him all this? "There are full protection details throughout the hotel, if that's your concern."

He shook his head. "No. I have no concern, Agent Gibbs. I am requesting your team."

"My team?" Gibbs spat, disbelieving. "Why would I offer up my team to you?"

"Why not?" Eli asked, honestly. "They are good agents, top notch in your agency are they not?"

Gibbs' eyes narrowed. "Why not?" he repeated. "You threatened one of my agents. You threatened to make his daughter disappear forever. Can you see why I'm a bit apprehensive here Director David?"

Eli finished his meal and pushed the empty plate away. "I can assure you, Agent Gibbs that Agent DiNozzo and his daughter are in no danger from me. They no longer serve me a purpose."

He felt a rage burning within him. Gibbs had known that people meant very little to Eli David, but to hear him throw away Kaitlin and Tony's lives like they were bargaining chips… "Until you need someone to do something for you. Tell me something, Director… if I refuse to do this protection detail are you going to use Kaitlin against me? Because I came here to make something very clear to you—that little girl is off limits."

"I am not some kind of monster, Agent Gibbs," Eli snapped, defensively. "I would never hurt a child."

"No. You just threaten them, endanger your own," Gibbs snarled.

Eli shrugged, his eyes growing sad and forlorn. "It is a terrible business we are in, Agent Gibbs. It makes us do unsavory things to protect the masses. So, are you going to help me or not?"

Gibbs clutched his fists underneath the table. He knew that he should refuse this request, but he wanted to protect Tony, his team, Kaitlin and the only way to do that was if he had eyes on David at all times. "I'll help you… but if you hurt my team…Kaitlin… I'll shoot you myself."

* * *

Tony had changed from his crisp suit to a casual maroon polo shirt and jeans. Tim noticed immediately and looked concerned. "Daycare called, Kaitlin isn't feeling well," the senior field agent lied. "I'm going to go pick her up and take her home."

Tim nodded in understanding. "Ok. Do you want me to tell Gibbs?"

_Gibbs. He'll strangle me for sure if he knew where I was going… _Tony shook his head, grabbed his gear and bid his partners farewell. Once inside the elevator cab he let out a shaky sigh. It hadn't felt right in the building the moment Amit Hadar stepped off the elevator and it certainly didn't feel right that Eli David was asking that NCIS be his protection detail for this conference that Director Vance had requested he be at. Eli was here for other purposes. Ziva.

He wouldn't be surprised if Eli had found out somehow that his daughter was still alive and come to D.C to collect her. Tony didn't know if Gibbs' gut was tingling like his was—the former marine had been speaking to Mossad and Vance all afternoon since returning from chatting with Eli—but Tony felt that someone had to let Ziva know that her father was in town. And he couldn't risk calling her on the phone.

Lying about having to go pick up Kaitlin was the only way to sneak out of NCIS to drive up to Baltimore to warn Ziva. He just hoped that Mossad wasn't having them all followed. It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities.

_I wish I could escape back to Nantucket for a few days, _Tony thought, but then, decided against that. He did not want to bring his mother into this horrible world of evil games and lies... the world where a man used people like common objects.

Gibbs was concerned, no doubt that the team was being assigned this detail. And with a team of assassin loose in the States coming for Eli... it only made matters worse. Although he kept insisting that Kaitlin was going to be safe. Tony wasn't so sure of that. He wouldn't trust Eli as far as he could throw him. And he certainly didn't take it at face value that the man was clueless his daughter was alive.

Much like Gibbs it felt like Eli David knew everything. And this, above all else, concerned Tony... for the safety of his team, for Ziva and for his daughter. It was no his job to make sure that nothing happened to any of them.

"Sorry, boss," Tony muttered as he drove away from the Navy Yard. "But I had to lie to you. Our lives might depend on it."

* * *

Ziva David was outside the Baltimore women's shelter that she volunteered at when she heard footsteps on concrete. Instinctively she straightened her shoulders and turned to chase away whatever abusive husband or boyfriend had arrived… to find Tony standing on the sidewalk.

It had been months since she had been to Washington and seen him. Even longer since she had seen him without his daughter attached to his hip… "Tony? What are you doing here?" she asked, nervously. Had something happened to Gibbs or the others?

"Can't stay long," he told her, "I need to be back in D.C by six to pick Katie up at daycare. Otherwise they start to panic and worry that something happened…"

"Tony! Why are you here?" she asked again, putting her rake down.

"Your father is in D.C," Tony stated, simply.

Ziva felt her chest tighten. Her father was the whole reason that she was here. She had spent months remaking herself in this very shelter. She had met someone and was happy, at peace with who she was for the very first time. But her father thought she was dead… had he found out? Was he here to force her back into Mossad? "Why? My father has not left Israel in decades."

Tony took a deep breath. She was on edge as much as he was about all this. "Director Vance is discussing an Amsterdam operation at a conference this week. Rumor has it that your father asked to be here, in person."

"Do you think he knows I'm here?"

"Hasn't made any indication according to Gibbs. But Ziva… I would get away for a few days… until he leaves at least."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than gunshots rang out from behind him. Tony instinctively pulled his weapon and fired at the car speeding away. He took mental note of the make and model of the car, the license plate…

Suddenly he became aware of Ziva's gasping breath. Tony turned about and dropped his gun, falling to his knees on the pavement as the front door of the shelter opened. "Call an ambulance!" he shouted at the woman who had appeared to see what was going on. He desperately placed his hands to the wound in her chest, watching as the blood seeped through his fingers. He suddenly saw John Carson underneath him, bleeding out in that alley as Tony tried to keep him alive. And as Ziva's face grew ashen he knew that they were headed for that same outcome.


	17. Missing

**Warnings: **Slight spoilers for "Enemies Foreign" and "Enemies Domestic"

**A/N: **I promised you a bit of a longer update this time, so here it is :) Enjoy!

* * *

"DiNozzo! What the hell happened!" Gibbs shouted when he met up with Tony at the ER in Baltimore. "McGee said you were going to pick up Kaitlin! Then I get this phone call from you that says you went to see Ziva and she's been shot!"

"She could be dying, Gibbs," Tony said, softly. His green eyes filled with intensity, remorse. "Lost too much blood too fast... they rushed her to the OR but... it doesn't look good. I couldn't stop it. And I'm sorry I lied to you… with Eli lurking around every corner… I thought I was going there to warn her so she'd be safe. I was wrong."

Gibbs ran a hand through his gray hair and sighed, sadly. "Aw, hell, DiNozzo. This wasn't your fault."

Tony glared at him. "Wasn't it? Kaitlin and I were the reason she was in that camp… the reason that she had to escape from Mossad. Regardless if I was followed or not—I'm responsible!"

"You forget that she willing gave up Mossad in Cryer's death," Gibbs reminded him, gently. "Tony… she knew the dangers. You did the right thing going to warn her."

"But I can't shake it, boss, I can't shake the feeling that I could have done _more,_" the younger man replied, his voice wavering.

Gibbs reached out and grabbed Tony's shoulder. He shook the younger man for good measure. "Anthony, listen to me. Until we run those plates, until we find out who pulled the trigger, for all we know… this was a drive by shooting."

Tony scoffed. "Please. Even the Baltimore PD doesn't think this was a random drive by. This was a hit, Gibbs. Perfectly planned and executed. Notice how I'm still standing? Notice how there isn't a scratch on me?"

He had to admit that his senior field agent had a point. Gibbs didn't know what else to tell Tony. Was it possible that Eli had his team followed… that he knew where his daughter was… that the Palestinian assassins knew where his daughter was… _so many questions and no answers. _"Why don't you head back to D.C? The daycare is going to be expecting you to pick your daughter up in two hours."

Glaring, Tony shook his head. "Boss! Someone took a shot at me! Hit Ziva! I have a job to do finding the moron who did it!" He reached into his pocket to grab his cell phone but was stopped when Gibbs' hand clamped down on his wrist, forcefully.

"DiNozzo," the former marine growled, "Put that away. Tim and Erin are baby-sitting Eli right now and Abby is trying to track those assassins."

"I'll call the neighbors to pick her up—Jane—you need me here," Tony snapped.

"Kaitlin needs you more than I do," Gibbs informed him. Tony's eyes softened. "How do you think she's going to react if Daddy doesn't pick her up on her first day back at daycare?"

Tony relented. Silently he slipped his phone back into his pocket. He eyed the lead agent, seriously. "If we find out that Eli David is responsible for this, boss… promise me… we're going to send him away for a long, long time."

Gibbs nodded, gently, and let go of Tony's wrist. "I've already gotten in touch with Fornell. Metro has agreed to hand this case over to the FBI. If they find out that Eli acted on U.S soil—he'll be going to jail."

"Good," Tony snapped before leaving, "because we all will be better off if he does."

* * *

Cool breezes tickled the leaves and blew across the tiny park. The serene, peaceful setting of the park was a stark contrast to the loud, tension filled hospital that he had come from just a few hours before.

Tony carefully helped Kaitlin into the bucket swing and began to push her. She had been happy to see him at the end of her day. Smiles and giggles for her daddy, and she was just what he needed to… forget for a while. Although, watching how happy his daughter was made it even more incredibly hard to believe that Eli David could place a hit on his own daughter. He loved Kaitlin more than anything, couldn't imagine living his life without her in it… for Eli to try and have his own daughter killed… it made the man a monster in Tony's eyes.

Kaitlin kicked her legs in excitement and squealed, "Up, Dada!"

"I think you're going high enough," Tony told her gently. He laughed softly when she frowned and stuck her lower lip out in a pout. He was just about to call it a night when he heard a car pull up. Instinctively his hand went to his holster, until he heard a voice he recognized. "I thought you were baby-sitting Director David, Tim?"

"Gibbs is back from the hospital," McGee said, joining Tony and Kaitlin. "He sent me to check up on you. Sort of. I think. Anyways… Ziva made it through the surgery…but in order to keep Director David from finding out she's still alive… she's going to have to disappear."

Tony looked at his daughter for a moment, laughing and singing to herself. "In other words—the FBI thinks that she should fake her death and go into Witness Protection."

McGee nodded. "Yeah. As soon as she's strong enough to be moved, she's going to be placed in the program."

"Did you find anything to nail Eli's casket shut?"

"Not yet. He's a pro, Tony. He hid his tracks well."

Tony slowed the swing down and took Kaitlin out. He ran his fingers along her soft locks of hair and sighed. "Yeah. I know. This is my fault."

McGee shook his head. "No, it wasn't Tony. You had no idea that Director David knew where you were going… we're not even sure if he knew that Ziva was here in the States. He's acting like nothing happened or that he was even aware that Ziva was alive."

"Of course he is. He doesn't want to go to jail."

"Ziva did say she might have to arrest him one day."

Tony pulled Kaitlin's hood of her jacket over head as the wind picked up and fished his keys out of his pocket. "Hungry Tim? We're going to grab some Greek food for dinner."

McGee looked at the little skeptically. "She eats Greek food?"

"Greek salad… she loves Feta."

"Dinner sounds good."

Tony started walking back towards his car.

McGee called after him, "Tony? Are you feeling any better?"

Kaitlin smiled at him then. Tony nodded and gave his partner the thumbs-up sign. He wasn't a hundred percent better but he was getting closer.

* * *

Smells of coffee and French toast made their way up the hall into the bedroom.

Tony opened his eyes and glanced at the clock on the near by nightstand. It was nearly five. Who the hell was cooking in his house at this hour? And, for the matter, who the hell was _in _his house at this hour?

Grabbing his weapon, Tony rolled out of bed. He peeked into Kaitlin's room to find that she was still fast asleep in her crib completely unaware that anything was going on. He continued to creep down the stairs, into the hall, and then into the kitchen… "Boss?"

Gibbs turned and threw his SFA a smile. "Morning."

"It's five in the morning. What are you doing here?"

"Figured you didn't eat last night. Making sure you get a good breakfast."

Tony put his weapon down onto the counter. "I did eat. Tim came by… we got Greek," he said, and continued with, "Kaitlin likes Feta," when Gibbs threw him a confused look. He sat down at the kitchen island and ran his hands over his face. "You were right, boss, it wasn't… it wasn't my fault. None of it was."

Gibbs put a plate of French toast in front of the younger man. "I'm to blame, Tony. I let Jenny push Ziva and Eli into our lives. I thought… NCIS could change Ziva. Her father is too far warped by the politics of it all by now… and Ziva, she realized too late what an evil man her father was."

"Eli knew you would send Ziva back to Israel after Rivkin tried to kill me," Tony guessed.

"He was banking on it. He wanted his daughter back to manipulate again and the only way to do that was to threaten you and the baby," Gibbs said.

"Bastard wrote the death sentence for Rivkin and his own daughter."

"Oh, he's written a lot more death sentences then those two."

Tony eyed Gibbs seriously. "So… what do we do now?"

Gibbs sprinkled some powdered sugar over Tony's French toast. "Nothing. Vance moved the talks about the Amsterdam case up today. No one has told Eli about Ziva—and Eli hasn't made any mention of her, other than speaking as if she's dead."

"Clever cover up," Tony said with a frown as he cut into his breakfast. "Are you still in charge of the protection detail?"

"Two Mossad officers and I went over the route that Director David will be taking into the hotel with Vance," Gibbs replied. "I'm with Vance. You, McGee, and Erin will cover the other entrances of the hotel."

"Another reason why you came over today, boss? To make sure I show up for work?"

"I know you'd rather see Eli David with a bullet in him…"

Tony shrugged. "Sure. And I may still see it happen someday… the man has plenty of enemies. But I'll be there, boss. Just another unpleasant task of the job—besides if I don't show up, I lose my job and then were does that leave Katie and I?"

Gibbs' brow furrowed. "I hope you keep that in mind when you see Director David."

"Are you concerned I'm going to be the one to kill him? Sorry… I hate the guy but he's not worth going to jail over."

"Just making sure you don't do anything rash, Tony. I don't need Mossad to come after you, guns blazing."

Tony was about to say something when Kaitlin could be heard upstairs waking up. If he didn't go get her right away the one and half year old would find some way out of the crib on her own and down the stairs. He shoved some French toast into his mouth and then dashed up the stairs before his daughter could get out of her crib on her own.

Kaitlin was waiting for him—or rather she was plotting her escape and Tony just got to her in time. "Hi Dada."

"Hey little monkey," Tony said, lifting her out of the crib, "You weren't thinking about climbing out again?"

"No," Kaitlin answered quickly.

Tony chuckled and kissed her cheek. He changed her before they headed downstairs to the kitchen were Gibbs had made up a plate of breakfast for Kaitlin as well. She seemed eager for French toast and easily got settled into her chair. Her eyes light up when saw the tasty treat before her. He had just settled her into her chair when someone knocked on the back door. Tony barely had time to react when in a flash Gibbs had his weapon drawn and Malachi Ben-Gideon on the floor.

Malachi didn't move, fearful that the former marine was going to pull the trigger. "Agent Gibbs! I swear! I came here in peace! I knocked before entering. I would not have done that if I was here to kill anyone!"

Gibbs didn't flinch. "Then what the hell are you doing here, Officer Ben-Gideon? I made it very clear to Director David that none of his officers were supposed to come _near _this child."

"I thought you would want to know right away," Malachi said, between gulping, nervous breathes, "Director David is missing."


	18. Ambushed

**Warnings: **Spoilers for "Enemies Foreign" and "Enemies Domestic"

**A/N:** I apologize for the long wait on this. I've been working to finished up "Carry Me Through" and haven't had much extra time to work on this story. Promise that I have not abandoned it though!

* * *

Gibbs knew exactly were to find Eli.

Tony sat in the Charger watching as his boss crossed the street towards his favorite diner. After dropping Kaitlin off at daycare and leaving clear instructions that only _he _was to pick up his daughter that day… Tony had driven with Gibbs across town to the diner. They hadn't told Mossad they knew where Eli had gone, Gibbs wanted to have a word with the Director without Hadar looking over his shoulder.

It was unnerving that he didn't want Tony looking over his shoulder either. At least he'd agreed to the radio. "_DiNozzo. If you keep growling in my ear like that I'm going to take the earwig out."_

"Sorry, boss. I'll stop."

"_Please do." _

Tony smiled softly, if not anxiously. He knew that Gibbs could handle himself, the man had been a marine sniper, but Director David was a dangerous man. He'd put a hit out on his own daughter, regardless of what the evidence was suggesting or the lack there of. Tony knew in his gut that it was Eli that had sent the assassin to Ziva. She had betrayed her country, Mossad in his eyes and for that Tony was certain Eli felt she should die. He rubbed a hand over his face as Gibbs entered the diner, and stated, "_Director David… thought our deal was you weren't supposed to leave the sight of my people—or yours for the matter."_

He could almost picture Eli David's smug face. Tony kept his eyes parked on the diner, waiting for anything to go wrong at any given moment. "_I needed some fresh air, Agent Gibbs. Your people would not tell me why I was taken from my safe house to NCIS for the night._"

"_Believe me it was for your own good," _Gibbs replied, coolly. "_Officer Hadar and Officer Ben-Gideon would like it very much if you would return to the safe house."_

_"Yes, yes, so they can watch me like a hawk you people say?"_

Tony didn't hear Gibbs reply, he was looking up and down the street for any signs of trouble. Of course when your senses were heightened like his were at the current moment, everything looked like trouble… Across the way a figure slid along the windows of the diner and Tony flew into action, whispering into his radio, "Boss we have a problem." He took off in a sprint when he saw the weapon drawn and pulling his own SIG from its holster, he shouted, "NCIS! DROP THE GUN!"

Dark brown eyes on a young face turned slightly to glare at him. Slurs were thrown in Tony's direction in Arabic as the bullets flew from the kid's weapon. Lucky for Tony the kid wasn't the best shot and missed, giving the federal agent—who was a perfect shot—a clear angle at him. It only took the seasoned filed agent one shot to take the kid down—a clean one through his shoulder.

As he moved to intercept the suspect, Gibbs burst from the diner, weapon drawn and let off two rounds over Tony's shoulder. Tony spun about and saw another man, Middle Eastern decent, lying in the middle of the pavement—dead. "Tony?" Gibbs called out to him, forcing the other agent to turn and look at him, "You okay?"

"Yeah. Kid's shots didn't hit me," Tony said with a slight shake of his head. _But that other guy snuck up on me. _

"Cuff him. Get him medical attention," Gibbs ordered, he gestured for Eli to leave the diner. "And stay with him. Have Metro bring you guys back to NCIS."

Tony cuffed the kid and then dialed for medical assistance. "Where are you going, boss?"

Gibbs growled at Director David, "Back to NCIS where no one can take shots at him or my agents."

* * *

McGee noticed the uneasy stance that Tony was taking. Sure, their suspect was not giving up where the their third terrorist was and was brashly proclaiming that Eli David would be dead by the end of the day… and Eli wasn't saying a word whether or not it was Mossad that had tried to kill Ziva. Tony hadn't gotten a good look at the shooters and it would be days before the FBI could question Ziva… if the State Department even wanted to go down that road.

Sadly it was looking like Eli was going to walk away from attempting to murder his daughter for the sake of politics. McGee frowned at Tony, watching the SFA nervously pace the bullpen, waiting for their orders.

Vance was still going through with talks about Amsterdam. Hadar, Malachi and Liat all insisted that the hotel had been checked and was safe for their Director to travel too, but Tony felt otherwise. That last terrorist was still out there and now more determined to kill Director David since they had failed that morning at the diner. He glanced at his watch. Fifteen minutes until show time. _God I hope I make it home tonight to my little girl, _Tony thought, feeling ill to his stomach.

Tony checked his gun once again, to make sure that it was clean and fully loaded.

"You really think the last assassin is going to try something even though one of his partners is dead and the other in our custody?" Erin asked, anxiously.

"Yeah, they came here with a mission—to kill Eli David," Tony replied.

McGee frowned. "I still don't understand why we're protecting him."

Tony had to agree with him. He looked at McGee, sternly. "Sometimes it's better to keep your enemies close."

Fifteen minutes later they were rolling out to the hotel, unaware that they were heading directly into a trap.

* * *

_Sometimes it's better to keep your enemies close. _This thought kept running through Tony's mind over and over again as he floored the Charger towards the safehouse. After being ambushed outside the hotel, and Tony and Erin had taken care of the last terrorist in the group of three assigned to kill Eli David, Gibbs had ordered the team to get Vance and Eli to the safehouse. But no one was answering the walkie-talkie.

McGee nervously fiddled with his hands in the front seat, calling Gibbs cell phone over and over again. "He's not answering. Still. Something must have happened."

Tony grumbled as he turned the car down the street and caught site of the smoke coming out of the windows of the safehouse. In the distance he could hear sirens and he cursed, pulling the Charger up along the curb, tossing it into park, and jumping out of the car at a full sprint. _I knew this whole protecting Eli David thing was a bad idea! _Tony thought, angrily as he climbed the steps towards the apartment.

Upstairs the door was blown off, smoke was filling the halls and debris littered the carpet. "Boss?" Tony called out, carefully making his way into the safehouse, praying that there wasn't another bomb set to go off. "Boss!"

He heard a loud groan and looked down to find Vance, holding his stomach with a piece of shrapnel sticking out. Tony pulled his coat off and pressed it to the Director's wound, placing pressure on it to hopefully stop the bleeding. "Paramedics are coming, Director. Just hang on."

"Not again…" Vance mumbled, half conscious half out of it. "My wife…"

"Promise, I'll have Erin go over and pick Jackie up myself… and the kids," Tony assured him. He lifted his eyes and glanced around the room. Amit Hadar was dead, his body not even five feet from Vance. Where the hell was Gibbs? And Director David?

McGee came scampering in, shocked to find Vance injured and Hadar dead… "Where's the boss?" he asked, uncertainly.

Tony shook his head. "I don't know."

With careful steps, McGee ventured into the apartment, stepping over debris as he went. Gibbs might have made it out of the blast with scratches and went after the person that set the bomb… "GIBBS! Tony I found him!" McGee cried, dropping to his knees and checking the team leader's prone form on the floor. He found a pulse and sighed in relief. He yanked his tie free from the collar and pressed it to the head wound on Gibbs forehead. "Hold on, boss, help's coming!"

It was like watching a bad disaster movie, Tony realized as the paramedics and firefighters burst onto the scene, pushing and pulling Tony and McGee this way and that so they could work on Vance and Gibbs.

Tony stood, wiping the sweat from his brow. When had this thing gone so far south? Ziva was forced into Witness Protection to keep her safe from her own flesh and blood, Vance and Gibbs were injured… he'd shot and killed not one but two terrorists that day… "McGee… get Erin here, get whatever help you can find and start processing this scene… we need to get to the bottom of this!"

McGee nodded and pulled his cell phone out, dialing Erin's number. "What are you going to do, Tony?"

"I'm going with Vance and Gibbs to get a sitrep and then I'm tracking down Eli David," Tony snapped, furiously. "I'm done playing his games. He wants to come to D.C then he's going to play by _my _rules from now on."

"Ah, Tony, what are you going to do about Kaitlin?" McGee asked, thinking about his partner's daughter.

Tony stiffened. Kaitlin. He had completely forgotten about her in his moment of fury. She would be expecting him to pick her up at daycare that afternoon, take her home and make dinner for her… he shook his head. _Not tonight sweetheart, _he thought as he sent a text to Abby to go over and pick Kaitlin up immediately. He called the daycare to inform them that Abby had his permission to take her. "Let's get to work, Probie!" Tony shouted as he darted back down the stairs to his car. _We have a bomber to find. _


	19. Past Lies

**Warnings: **Spoilers for "Enemies Domestic"

**A/N:** Happy Tuesday morning! It would be fun if I could have a post in one of my stories for you every morning this week :D Again, I apologize for the long wait on this story. Hope you enjoy the latest chapter :)

* * *

Kaitlin was peeking out from behind the gated area that Abby had set up for the toddler in her lab. The scientist knew that the little girl was planning her escape—she had that DiNozzo, mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "Aunnie Abby… out pleeze?"

Abby looked over at her, the little girl's green eyes wide with sweet innocence. She frowned. There was so much that Kaitlin could get into in her lab… which was probably why the little trouble maker wanted out of the makeshift playpen. "Not yet, Katie. Aunt Abby is busy working."

"Pleeze?" Kaitlin begged, sticking her lower lip out in a pout.

"Fine. Just for five minutes," Abby said, lifting her out of the crib and carrying her on her hip back to the table. "I wasn't kidding when I said I had lots of work to do."

Kaitlin smiled at her, oblivious to the fact that Gibbs' was in the hospital and that her father was barely holding himself together. She had been all smiles when Abby showed up to pick her up from daycare early. And she had entertained the nuns when Abby had stopped by for lunch. She never looked at spending time at NCIS as punishment. She rather enjoyed being around her father and her co-workers here.

Abby didn't mind having her, just things would be a lot easier if she had both hands to use while working instead of one. She sensed someone coming into her lab, and she called out, "I don't have anything yet!"

Jimmy appeared at her table. "Doctor Mallard wanted to see if you needed any help with Kaitlin."

"Here, hold her."

"Oh… okay."

Kaitlin smiled at him. In the last few months she had started to warm up to Jimmy. She was beginning to trust more people around her the more she saw their faces, which was a good thing for Tony. It meant slightly less separation anxiety.

Jimmy liked getting to spend time with Kaitlin. He wanted to be a dad someday but he had always been nervous about it. Seeing Tony take the bull by the horns and raise his little girl all on his own gave Jimmy the confidence that he could raise a child with the help of his Breena. "She seems happy today."

Abby laughed. "Of course she's happy. She isn't at daycare."

"Yeah she's costing me a fortune for not being there hardly at all," Tony said, entering the lab. "Did you get anything for me?"

"How's Gibbs?" Abby asked, nervously.

"Moderate concussion, docs want to keep him overnight unless he finds someone to stay with him at his house," Tony replied. "Vance was worse off, needed surgery, and well… you know what happened to Hadar."

Jimmy frowned. It had been a long day and it was only three o'clock in the afternoon. "Doctor Mallard concludes that Hadar died instantly. He was closest to the blast."

Tony took his daughter from the medical examiner's arms and kissed her cheek. "I convinced the FBI and Homeland that the conference needed to be moved here. McGee's babysitting all those retired agents right now. Think he might kill me for giving him that job."

Abby sighed. "I can't tell you much, Tony, other than the explosion was triggered by a spark… from matches that were left at a certainly angle in the door. It started a chain reaction and the, well… the whole room exploded, but not a big enough blast to disintegrate the room. Just one that was enough to let someone get away… cause a distraction."

"Liat and Malachi are looking for Director David. Ziva's been moved to a hospital in New York," Tony replied. "If Eli is going after her… she's not in the city."

"What if this wasn't Eli?" Abby asked, honestly.

"Then I really don't know what to tell you, Abs," Tony said just as honestly. "Keep digging."

He turned, grabbed Kaitlin's bag, and headed for the elevator. Inside he smoothed his daughter's hair back and gave her a little kiss. After such a long, troubling day, Tony needed just a few moments with his baby girl. And he really needed Abby to work, so he decided to snatch Kaitlin away for a few hours. She could play by his desk and since NCIS was armed to the teeth right now with the conference being moved… she was in the safest place possible.

McGee was popping painkillers when Tony arrived. He looked haggard, and tired, and well… a bit cranky. "Those old agents are just as bad as Gibbs… no wonder they liked him when he first signed on."

Tony chuckled. "At least you didn't witness the almost romantic liaison between Agent Sharp and Ducky."

"What?" both Erin and McGee squawked at the same time.

"Trust me. At one point those two were doing the horizontal tango."

"Really, Tony? In front of your daughter no less…"

"Anyone got any ideas where Eli David is?" Tony asked, ending the conversation. He placed his little girl onto his desk and fished a toy out of her bag.

Erin and McGee exchanged glances. "While you were down in the lab, Agent McAllister had something interesting to say," the young woman said.

Tony's interest was peaked. "Yeah?"

McGee cleared his throat. "He says this isn't the first time that Director David has tried to have Vance killed." He placed a file folder onto the SFA's desk next to Kaitlin. "Same kind of explosive device was used in this operation, designed by Eli David to stop what he told Vance were Russian assassins. Blast could have killed Vance back then. Chances are, Eli was just trying to finish the job he couldn't in 1991."

"Or… the whole blast was an elaborate scheme to get Vance to trust him," Tony pointed out.

"Or that," McGee said with a shrug. "Either way, the Russian handler was never named in that report. So… if it wasn't Eli… could have been him."

"They sure like to wait years to extract revenge don't they?" Tony mused as he read through the file.

Kaitlin's toy crashing to the floor startles him. Tony looked up from the file and saw her smiling at him from ear to ear. _Troublemaker. _

McGee reached down and gave her the toy back as the elevator signaled its arrival. All three agents looked up to see Liat and Malachi getting off and making their way into the bullpen.

Immediately Liat frowned at the little girl. Clearly she did not think that this was a place that a child should be allowed to roam around and play. "You bring your children into such a place?" she questioned, her eyes locking with Tony's. "How will any of you get any work done if you are always watching her?"

"Liat, please," Malachi chided her. "We need their help in finding Director David."

"Still haven't managed to track him down yet, huh?" Tony snapped.

"With people obviously out there to kill him… yes! It is taking a lot longer than we had hoped," Liat snarled. "He has been trained to disappear."

"And now you want my help?" Tony guessed.

Kaitlin let out a delighted little giggle as her toy lit up and began to sing the _ABC's _to her. Liat's dark eyes focused on the child and instantly Tony felt his protective instincts taking over. He snatched his daughter off the desk and held her to his hip.

Liat continued to scowl. "How could you help us if you are too busy baby-sitting?"

Tony threw her look. "I'm just trying to keep my daughter safe from the likes of your Director. Did you know that he already put a hit out on her once, to get Ziva to take up that suicide mission in Somalia?"

"Ziva was weak," Liat sneered. "It is why she is dead."

"Leaving her to die in a terrorist camp is the reason she's dead," Tony snapped. He handed Kaitlin off to Erin. "Now, let's get to work. We have a missing Israeli to find."

* * *

Kaitlin was snuggled in Erin's lap, fast asleep, when Tony returned. "Did you find him?" she asked, anxiously. The retired agents waiting to talk about the operation in Asterdam had been hounding Erin and McGee all afternoon for updates.

Tony put his badge and weapon back into his desk drawer. "Yeah. He was at a temple downtown. Balboa's team was bringing him to a hotel for the night. Liat and Malachi are going to stay with him and baby-sit. The conference can pick up with Amsterdam tomorrow morning. I sent them back to their rooms for the evening. Any word on Vance?"

"Made it through the surgery," Erin said. "They released Gibbs."

"Did they release Gibbs or did he sign himself out?" Tony asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"According to Ducky they released him. Ducky took him home," Erin answered.

Tony watched as his daughter shifted in Erin's lap. She looked tired and he really should bring her home... _but I need to speak to Gibbs. _"Why don't you and McGee call it a night? We'll start fresh in the morning."

Erin glanced over at McGee's empty desk. Poor Tim had been dealing with cranky retired agents all day. "Did Eli David have any idea who set that bomb?"

Gently he scooped Kaitlin out of Erin's arms. "Yeah," Tony said, softly as he settled the toddler against his shoulder. "Someone that's close to the case. Sent a protection detail to Vance's hospital room. We were right about one thing. Someone is definitely out to kill Director Vance."


	20. One Way Ticket to GITMO

**Warnings:** Slight spoilers for Season 8

**A/N:** Apologize for the long wait but my muse has been elsewhere in the NCIS world, but I didn't forget about this story! Enjoy!

* * *

Gibbs had never had such a bad headache before. Ever. Tony had tried to be quiet when entering the house but every little nose—even Kaitlin's little sigh—seemed amplified to Gibbs' ears. His SFA looked guilty for showing up.

Tony plopped Kaitlin down into the easy chair. "Sorry, boss. I needed... I needed your opinion on something. About the case." He saw the former marine's blue eyes glare at him and he cleared his throat. "Is it possible that one of the other agents involved in the case are responsible for setting that bomb off and not Eli?"

"Are you suggesting that either Sharp or McAllister are involved?"

"Yes... I think so anyways. They were the other two agents read in on the case besides Vance."

Gibbs sat up on the couch and rubbed his temples, trying to will the headache away. He didn't remember much from the blast, and he had no memory of going to the hospital. He had woken up with Ducky by his beside informing him of what had happened. "I know very little about Amsterdam. Leon wouldn't tell me anything when I asked. It seems rather risky to blow up his only ally at NCIS—but we both know Eli David is capable of it. Have you talked to him yet?"

Tony sat down on the easy with Kaitlin. The toddler whined and climbed into his lap. She nuzzled his chest and fought to keep her eyes open. Her father sighed and rubbed her back. "I've requested that Liat and Malachi bring him by tomorrow morning. As long as NCIS is holding onto Amit Hadar's body—I doubt they're going anywhere."

Kaitlin started to cry. She was tired. She wanted her bed and she didn't want to be dragged around much more today. Tony stood, taking her hint that it was time to go home and turned towards Gibbs.

Gibbs waved him off. "Go, Tony. She's tired. Go home and get some rest and tackle the problem in the morning."

* * *

"Dada?" Kaitlin's voice could be heard, loudly, over the baby monitor. "Dada! Up!"

Tony opened his eyes and glanced at the clock on his nightstand. _You've got to be kidding me? _He thought when he saw that it was barely four o'clock in the morning. _Doesn't this kid know how to sleep in? _ His daughter called out again sounding angry this time because her father was not coming to get her fast enough. Grumbling, Tony pulled himself out of bed and stumbled into Kaitlin's room.

Kaitlin was standing up in the crib, grinning from ear to ear at her father. Her hair was wild and tangled. It was going to be a hell of a mess trying to brush it later, but Tony didn't care at this point. He reached into the crib and lifted her out. Quietly he carried her back into his bedroom and gently laid her down onto the bed.

He was hoping that the promise of some snuggle time would get her to fall back to sleep, but it seemed that his little girl had other plans. She sat up and fussed, crawling around the bed, on and over her daddy. "Dada, up!"

"Katie... it's too early to get up. Go back to sleep."

"No sleep! Dada, up!"

Tony grumbled and looked at his daughter. Kaitlin was sitting next to him, her little face inches from his and she was grinning. Damn it, he could not resist that face. This was going to become a major problem when she was sixteen and wanted the keys to the car...

Kaitlin smiled, sweetly, at him again. "Dada?" she whispered, leaning in bringing them nose to nose, "Up?"

"Fine," he sighed, rolling out of bed and then snatching his daughter up into his arms.

"Yay Dada!" she cheered, throwing her hands up in the air in a celebration that he had taught her when watching football.

Tony resisted the urge to chuckle, but couldn't stop the smile that spread across his features. It was hard to stay or get mad at her. Someday, he knew she was going to realize that.

Downstairs he found the Cheerios and took them into the living room where they both ate right from the box while watching _Dora the Explorer. _Kaitlin burrowed underneath a blanket, humming while she watched and ate her cereal. Tony was suddenly struck with the thought that Ziva never got this growing up with her father, never got to just be a kid, and perhaps that was where everything had really gone wrong.

Once she was finished with her cereal, Kaitlin dropped her empty bowl on the floor and snuggled against her father. She quickly fell asleep and Tony was left sitting there watching her favorite television show.

He found the remote and changed the channel. Tony wasn't going to be getting back to sleep that morning. As it was he had too much on his mind to begin with specifically the interrogation with Eli David and even though they had the Mossad director in custody, Tony was anxious that Kaitlin's life was in danger. She was just going to have to come down to NCIS again. She wasn't going to be happy, but Tony didn't care. Keeping her safe was more important than keeping her happy at the current time and he was going to do just that.

* * *

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Director David," Tony said, slamming the door to Interrogation shut. "I had to settle my daughter. Kids. Make life tricky, don't they?"

"What am I doing here?" Eli snapped. "I have answered all of your FBI's questions."

Tony pulled a chair out and sat down. "So, you don't want to talk about your kids? Share some heart to hearts about raising them? Guess I don't really have as much experience in the department of fatherhood like you do... my daughter is still very small."

Eli was not going to play the game or at least not let Tony bait him so easily. "I am sorry for what happened to Director Vance and Agent Gibbs, but I had nothing to do with that bombing. Someone read the Amsterdam file and _copied _the way Leon and I handled the Russians."

"You know, the thought of Katie at the age of sixteen terrifies me," Tony continued ignoring him. "Especially the boys. Any advice?"

"My wife was the one that dealt with the girls," Eli snapped.

"Well, then, that would explain why it was easy enough for you to organize a hit on your only living child," Tony responded, eyes narrowing.

His jaw twitched as Eli realized Tony had led him into a trap. Tony gave him a soft smile before continuing. "I already know who set the bomb, former NCIS agent, wanted Vance to die on that mission in the Netherlands, however, you foiled that plan. We're here to talk about Ziva."

Eli looked away. "Ziva is dead."

Tony glared. "She wasn't until two days ago. You found out didn't you?" When Eli said nothing, Tony leaned forward slightly. "I would never, _ever _hurt my daughter in the ways that you hurt Ziva. You left her die in Somalia, she was only rescued because my team found her—and you had her murdered because she told the truth about that mission, about how Mossad was the one to kill a United States Marine."

"She's was supposed to be loyal to me! And only me! She crossed the line when she told NCIS what we had done."

"And you had her killed for it. Wonder what the State Department is going to have to say about this."

"I am a valuable ally to this country. I will be on a plane home in no time."

Laughing, Tony shook his head. "I spoke with the State Department. Your actions, on American soil and on that freighter are being considered acts of terrorism."

Eli did not laugh, he gave the other man a heated look, but one could tell he was impressed with how quickly Tony had snagged him. "Are we done?"

"Oh yeah, we're done. There's a couple of nice agents outside this room with an orange jumpsuit and cuffs for you," Tony said, standing. He pulled on his blazer. "I hope you enjoy GITMO."


	21. Old Friends

**Warnings:** Spoilers for Season 8, Season 12

**A/N:** Sorry for the long wait. I apologize. I did not forget this story, it was just a struggle for a while to write anything in it. I think I've got it back on track, please let me know what you think ;)

* * *

It was quiet on the ICU floor when Tony stepped off the elevator. Kaitlin lifted her head off his shoulder for a second to see where they had gone, but then settled back down when she found it was not that interesting.

Tony's eyes narrowed in on his target and he proceeded towards the rather bored looking FBI agent standing guard outside of Ziva's hospital room. He struggled to get his credentials out of his pocket thanks to Kaitlin wedged against him and decided it wasn't worth it. "Excuse me, is Miss David awake?"

"Sorry sir," the FBI agent said. "I can't let anyone in without the proper clearance."

"Do I honestly look like I'm here to kill her? Carrying a toddler?" Tony snarked.

Kaitlin, as if on cue, raised her head and smiled, sleepily, at the FBI agent. She just as quickly fall back against her father's shoulder and struggled to keep her eyes open; but she had achieved the desired affect that Tony was hoping for. The agent got up and let them into Ziva's room.

Tony shifted his daughter in his arms and glanced at the medical monitors. Ziva's heart beat was getting stronger since the last time he had been by to visit her. In a few weeks the FBI was going to determine if she needed to be moved into Witness Protection, but with Eli David in jail, the chances that her life was in danger were getting slimmer.

"Why… why are you here?" Ziva asked him weakly.

"Mind if I sit down?" Tony asked, gesturing towards the chair.

"Not at all."

"I came to talk to you about your father."

Her face clouded over. "I know he was the one that tried to kill me. Did he finally admit to it?"

Settling Kailtin into his lap, Tony shook his head. "No, but he didn't have too. He's going to GITMO, Ziva. You don't have to worry about him anymore."

Ziva looked at the toddler in Tony's lap. "My father never held me like that," she whispered, "We were nothing to him but future soliders. It killed Ari, it took Tali from us, and it nearly killed me."

Tony stroked Kaitlin's back. "He got what he deserved, Ziva. He couldn't keep playing with fire and expect not to get burned."

Kaitlin whined and tried to get out of her father's grasp to go and explore the hospital room. When Tony wouldn't let her, she stuck her lower lip out in a pout. "Down, Dada."

"Not here," Tony said, firmly. _Who knows what kind of trouble you could get into? _

"It was nice of you to stop by, Tony, but you should take her home."

"We just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Ziva smiled, sadly. "I am fine. This is not the first time I have had to completely start over."

Tony sighed and tightened his grip on Kaitlin. "I'm sorry."

She was confused. "For what? It is not your fault my father found out where I was. I know that you and McGee did not tell him."

He shrugged. "I went to warn you. It's possible that your father followed me. I thought… I was doing the right thing by sneaking off. Turns out… I wasn't. Mossad… doesn't play by the rules… I knew that."

"You came to say good-bye," Ziva stated.

"Yes. I wasn't sure what the FBI was going to do," Tony replied, softly.

Ziva's eyes filled with sad tears and she forced a smile on her face. "Good-bye, Tony. I hope that you and Kaitlin continue to be happy…"

Tony nodded, stood up and rested a sleepy Kaitlin on his shoulder. "Bye Ziva," he whispered before slipping out of her hospital room. Hugging his little girl tightly, Tony thanked the FBI agent and made his way to the elevator. It was time for all of them to get on with their lives and put the mess that Mossad had made of them behind them for good.

* * *

Tony only knew that Ziva had been moved from Washington to an unknown location because she vanished from the ICU at the local hospital. He wasn't privy to the information on where she had been taken, and perhaps it was better that way. Sadly, it was best if everyone associated with her in Baltimore and Washington believed that she was dead.

He also felt very little relief that Eli David had been thrown in jail. Tony wasn't sure if there would be any repercussions coming from Mossad because of that. Liat had been particularly nasty to him before she went back to Israel. He would probably be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life. It was Kaitlin he was really worried about. Would Mossad use her to retaliate against him? Eli had tried to use her once before.

Even with his uneasy thoughts, Tony couldn't keep Kaitlin locked up at NCIS. It had been difficult for him to drop her off at daycare the first time after Eli went to GITMO. All day he'd been what Erin was calling a nervous nelly—constantly checking his email and phone for messages.

No messages came and Kaitlin was all smiles when he picked her up that night. "I guess you had a good day at school," Tony said, scooping his little girl up into his arms and kissing her cheek. "I missed you today, peanut."

"Dada, pizza?" Kaitlin asked, smiling sweetly.

"Yeah… we can stop and get pizza," Tony said, chuckling as he gathered up her things.

He helped the toddler into her jacket, hat and mittens. Then, with her bag slung over his shoulder, Tony carried his baby girl out into the cold, strapped her into her seat and drove off to their favorite pizza place. The smells of Italian cooking as he stepped into the restaurant hit and he instantly felt soothed. They reminded him of his grandmother cooking when he was a child.

Kaitlin instantly perked up when the motherly woman at the counter greeted her. She smiled and shyly hid her head against her father's shoulder.

"She is getting big, Anthony," the woman said with a grin. "Hard to believe only a year and a half ago you were carrying her around in a baby seat."

"Yeah… she isn't my little baby anymore," Tony said sadly before ordering their favorite pizza. "I wish that I could slow time down, Teresa."

"Don't we all?" Teresa quipped. "Just remember she will always be your baby, no matter how old she gets."

Tony took some comfort in that. He knew that there were still some years to go before his daughter was on her own, going to college, and perhaps starting her own family, but since she was his entire world, the separation was going to be harder for him.

Sitting down in the waiting area, Tony situated Kaitlin in his lap and found something on his smartphone to keep her occupied while they waited for their dinner. He wasn't paying much attention to the patrons going in and out, until he heard a familiar voice.

There was a faint smell of perfume in the air, and a shocked tone of voice said, "Spider?"

Tony glanced up, startled. "Keates?"

"I didn't know you were in Washington?" they asked at the same time.

"Sorry," Tony said, quickly looking away, "ladies first."

"I… I took a job with ATF," Zoe Keates replied, dark brown eyes studying the child in his lap. "You?"

"NCIS," Tony simply stated.

Zoe waited for him to explain the toddler in his lap and then raised her eyebrows as he remained silent.

Tony grinned, sheepishly. "Oh, the kid. Yeah… she's mine."

She ran her tongue over her lips. "So, you did end up marrying Wendy."

He shook his head. "No. I ended up getting a Navy officer pregnant during one of the lowest points in my life and… here's my daughter…"

"You? Got someone knocked up?" Zoe sputtered, surprised. The Tony she knew wasn't a player and was always careful when it came to his sexual partners.

"Things changed," Tony said with a shrug.

"Do you share custody with her mother?"

"Oh no. I have sole custody. Her mother's career was too important."

Zoe winced at the anger in his voice. It was clear that Tony loved his child and hated the fact that her mother just…left her. Echoes of his own childhood perhaps. "She looks just like you."

Tony chuckled and kissed his daughter's downy head. "Yeah," he whispered, "she does. My co-workers call her my mini-me."

"Let me guess she likes pizza and movies."

"She does."

"Anthony, your order is ready," Teresa said, holding a box for him.

Tony got up, shifting Kaitlin onto his hip, dug out his wallet and paid for their pizza. With the box in one hand, Kaitlin wedged against him, he turned towards Zoe. "It was nice seeing you," he said, honestly. "Now that you're in D.C, feel free to look me up some time."

Zoe smiled at him, shyly. "Sure. Maybe we can get some pizza and catch up—like old times—obviously, we have a lot to catch up on."

He left the pizza place feeling a little less heavy. Zoe had been a good friend back in the day in Philly, a good partner. She knew more about him than he probably knew because he would be the one that led their conversations while walking their beat. Tony wasn't sure if she would actually call him but as he got Kaitlin into the car, he found himself wishing that she would.


	22. Blue Christmas

**Warnings:** Spoilers for Season 8, Season 12

**A/N: **Happy Tuesday night! I was going to wait until the morning but thought you'd like this now :) Hope you enjoy this update!

**Guest- **_It has been made clear that I was pairing Tony and Zoe together at some point. I have four stand alone stories with Tony and Zoe and Kaitlin. I'm not forcing you to read, but threatening to stop reading isn't going to change what I WANT to write._

* * *

Just before Christmas Tony received two phone calls. One from Zoe, inviting him to New Year's Day brunch—the other from the Norfolk police department. In an instant, his joy over seeing Zoe again faded, replaced by a cold, numbness. Amanda Kingston, the mother of his only child, had wrapped her car around a tree. He only knew about it because she had left a note for him in that the car—it had been a suicide.

Tony had taken the drive to Norfolk to collect the note and some things that Amanda had left to their daughter. Finding out that Amanda had struggled recently with her decision to give Kaitlin up, Tony felt overwhelming feelings of guilt wash over him. How many times had he stopped himself from calling her? If he had reached out to her, informing her that he wanted her to be in Kaitlin's life… maybe Amanda wouldn't have fallen into such a state of depression.

Of course there were other factors leading up to Amanda's depression. Her career, the reason she had given up being a mom, had not gone as planned and she suffered a series of setbacks. She went through a few failed relationships since leaving Tony and her family had become estranged. Still, Tony grappled with the intense emotions of knowing that their baby had been the primary cause of her death and that she was now going to grow up with no chance of ever knowing her biological mother.

Kaitlin was oblivious to the news that was deeply troubling her father. She had no relationship with her mother besides the fact that Amanda had carried her in her womb. She was much more focused on the fact that Santa would be coming soon.

He felt himself being pulled into a funk. Secretly, Tony had gone to Amanda's funeral, leaving Kaitlin with a baby-sitter and taking a sick day from work. The baby was napping when he came home and Tony must have sat there in her room for hours it felt like, just watching her.

"Dada?" Kaitlin questioned when she woke up, pulling herself up in the crib. She beamed when she saw him. "Dada!"

"Hey peanut," Tony greeted as he took her out of the crib. He kissed her cheek. "I have a present for you downstairs."

She smiled and rubbed her sleepy eyes. "Okay."

He carried her downstairs to the kitchen and sat her on the counter. In his pocket he found what he was looking for, holding the gold cross out to her. "This was Mommy's—now it's Kaitlin's."

Kaitlin gently took the delicate necklace into her hand and studied it. She still didn't quite get the concept of a mother; reading books and watching shows on the television were helping her, but since it was something not present in her life… well… she still didn't quite get it. "Mommy?"

Tony stroked her hair. "Found it in her things that she left me. I think your mommy would want you to have it. Look, look how pretty it is, Katie."

"Pretty," Kaitlin cooed as Tony clasped the necklace around her neck. It was too long for her right now but when she got older, it would fit just perfect. "Pretty!"

"We'll have to put it in a safe place," Tony said as he took the necklace off and placed it back into his pocket. He kissed his daughter's forehead. "Maybe someday Daddy will find someone to love the both us. Don't tell Aunt Abby, but I'm rather lonely. You're great, Katie, but… I'm missing having someone like your mom in my life."

She looked at him with big green eyes. Kaitlin frowned at him. "Dada sad?"

He sighed and lifted her up, hugging her. "Yes. Daddy is sad. But it's not because of you—you make me happy."

Kaitlin pat his back and sat up against his shoulder. She pointed towards the refrigerator. "Dada, I hungee."

Tony chuckled. Of course she was, his healthy little eater. "Guess I could make us some lunch." _I didn't stick around for the mercy meal. _He placed Kaitlin into her high chair and snapped the tray on. "Grilled cheese?"

"Yes," Kailtin said with a nod. "Cookies?"

"Yes, and some cookies," Tony promised her. "I can't forget those for my little sweet tooth."

Her little eyes sparkled when she smiled. Tony wondered what Zoe would think of her when she got to spend more time with her on New Year's Day. When they had been young cops back in Philly, they'd chatted about what they wanted in the future. Tony had been much more open back then, not afraid so much of his emotions and wishes. Wendy and Danny Price had changed all that.

Tony hoped that Zoe liked Kaitlin. He needed a friend outside of NCIS, outside of his fraternity brothers and outside of the parents of the playgroup that Kaitlin was involved in. _Stop kidding yourself… you'd like her to be more than a friend… _

Kaitlin demanded his attention when she wanted her grilled cheese cut a certain way. Tony sighed and complied with her wish. Yeah, he was ready for a new relationship, a new woman in his life that did not call him _dada. _

* * *

"Feeling better?" Erin asked the next morning when Tony arrived to work.

"Yeah, just a twenty-four bug," Tony affirmed, not making eye contact and sitting down to get right to work.

"Kaitlin didn't get sick?" Tim inquired.

"No, she managed to dodge this one," Tony said, sighing.

It was obvious to Tim and Erin that something was bothering Tony. They weren't sure if he was really sick yesterday or not, but Gibbs had warned them not to push Tony. If Tony felt like talking about it, he would talk about it.

Tony clearly was not in the mood to talk about it. At least not at the moment. He didn't want to think about Amanda's passing or that he might have been the cause. He wanted to think about spending Christmas with Kaitlin, meeting Zoe for brunch on New Year's Day…

Gibbs interrupted his thoughts when he came into the bullpen with his usual rallying cry. They had a missing sailor that was a witness to a crime and the District Attorney was looking for him.

_Wonderful, if this guy keeps me from spending Christmas with my daughter I'm going to be pissed, _Tony thought as he silently followed his team to the elevator. As he stepped in he noticed all eyes were on him, looking at him in concern. "I'm fine," he muttered. "Really, it was just a twenty-four bug and now it's gone. I'm ready to work, boss."

"If you need a little bit more time, DiNozzo, take it," Gibbs said softly as he sipped his coffee.

"Time isn't what I need," Tony countered, sternly. "Spending Christmas with my daughter is what I need. So let's' find the guy, that way I can spend the holiday with Katie."

Tim shifted on his feet nervously and glanced at Erin. She bit down on her lip as the elevator started to descend and took one step forward towards him, whispering so only he could hear, and affirming what he already knew, "We're going to have to talk to him."

* * *

Gibbs was surprised when Ducky wanted to see him in autopsy. After all, they had no body in this case and after searching the missing petty officer's apartment, he didn't think they were going to find one; the guy had just up and disappeared. "Needed to see me?" he questioned, stepping into the brightly lit room.

Ducky looked at him solemnly. "I was reading the newspaper this morning, Jethro. Normally, I do not get to read the paper top to bottom so it was a nice treat…"

"The point, Ducky?"

"Oh, yes, sorry. I came across an obituary that I think you will find interesting."

Gibbs watched as Ducky opened the paper up and a gray-scale photograph of a navy office appeared. It didn't take him long to figure out why the M.E had called him down here. "Lieutenant Kingston. How did she die?"

Ducky frowned and went to sip his tea. "Car accident—although not so accidental. She purposefully crashed it. Suicide, Jethro. It appears that Miss Kingston's life was not a happy or pleasant one in the last few months. Does Anthony know?"

He knew. Gibbs was sure of it. It would explain Tony's odd behavior this morning and his absence from the squad room the day before. "Yeah," he said, softly, "he knows. Hasn't said anything to me, but he knows."

The medical examiner sighed, again. "It is possible that the police department contacted him when notifying her next of kin. I know that Anthony had not seen her since Kaitlin was born, but she was still the mother of his child."

"I think he was always secretly hoping that Amanda would want to be a part of Kaitlin's life," Gibbs told Ducky.

"Sadly, now that will never happen," Ducky said. "At least young Kaitlin will not be effected by this."

"Small blessings."

"Anthony, on the other hand, I worry about."

Gibbs was worried about Tony too, however, there was nothing he could do at this point. "Duck, he isn't going to blame himself for this. He knows better than that."

Ducky frowned. "But he will, Jethro. You know how Anthony takes everything to heart much too seriously some times. Just promise me you will talk to him, make sure that he is okay."

"Aw, come on, Duck," Gibbs said with a sigh, "You know how hard it is to get Tony to talk. He needs to come to me."

"What if he doesn't, Jethro?" Ducky countered. "Could his guilt lead him to do something drastic?"

Gibbs felt a cold fear grip him. Would it? He didn't think so; Tony loved Kaitlin with all his heart and soul—she was his entire reason for living—however, there was no denying that the young man was lonely. Feeling that cold fear start to grip his heart, Gibbs realized that Ducky was right—he needed to talk to Tony and he needed to do it sooner rather than later.


	23. Guilt

**Warnings: **Slight spoilers for "False Witness"

**A/N: **Sorry for the long wait. Enjoy!

* * *

"Da-dee!" Kaitlin shouted, happily, when Tony showed up to pick her up from daycare. She seemed proud to show off the fact that she was no longer calling him _dada. _

"Hi peanut," Tony greeted her, somewhat saddened that his little girl was learning how to say his name properly. "Should we get your coat on? We have dinner plans. It's Wednesday!"

Kaitlin smiled and quickly let her father put her coat on. She knew that Wednesday meant pizza and a movie night. It was her favorite night of the week. "Roni pizza!" she exclaimed, grinning at Tony.

Tony laughed, silently. He grabbed her hat and mittens, bundled her up, and grabbed her bag. Scooping her up into his free arm, he made his way outside of the daycare into the cold. It always warmed his heart that his daughter was just as enthusiastic about movies and pizza as he was. "Let's go get some pizza," he said, buckling Kaitlin into her seat.

She clapped her hands, gleefully. Kaitlin washed away all his moodiness in just a few moments. He was still upset about Amanda's passing, it was something that was probably going to sit with him for a while. But at least his daughter was happy and healthy and at the end of the day that was all that really mattered.

He kissed her forehead and a thought came to him. Pulling out his cell phone he found the number that Zoe had left for him. Tony stroked the little girl's cheek while he waited for Zoe to answer. "What do you say to a dinner guest?" he asked his daughter, as he finally heard a click and Zoe's voice on the other end. Tony smiled. "Hey… are you busy?"

* * *

Gibbs was surprised to see a little sports car in the driveway at Tony's house. His surprise turned to absolute confusion when a woman exited the house, Tony behind her, and went to the sports car. She turned, smiling at him and hugged Tony tightly before she got into the car and drove away.

He watched from his car parked a little down the street as Tony went back inside the house and closed the door. Gibbs rubbed his temple. Was Tony seeing someone?

_Jethro, that's not important, _he chided himself as he put the car in drive and pulled into Tony's driveway. Shutting the car down, Gibbs got out and climbed the steps of the front porch. He knocked on the door and waited.

"Boss?" Tony questioned when he answered. "Did I miss a call out?"

"No," Gibbs said with a shake of his head. "Can I come in? It's a little cold."

"Sure," the senior field agent said, stepping aside. He let Gibbs into the house, closing the door behind him. "What's up?"

Kaitlin came waddling down the kitchen hall, a sippy cup in her hand and a big smile on her face. "Gampa Ibbs!"

Gibbs couldn't resist that little smile. He picked Kaitlin up into his arms and kissed her cheeks, making her giggle. "How was pizza and movie night?" he asked.

Tony ran his tongue over his lips. "We watched _Santa Clause is Coming to Town," _he answered. "I, ah, was just going to get her ready for bed."

"Okay, you do that—we can talk after," Gibbs told him, handing Kaitlin off. He chuckled as the little girl sang Christmas carols all the way up the stairs.

While Tony was upstairs getting Kailtin ready for bed, Gibbs peeked into the living room. There were signs that a woman had been there—a glass with lipstick on it—_not a wine glass, _the former marine noted. If Tony was seeing someone, Gibbs knew that Abby would be happy. She had been after Tony to get back out in the dating world; Tony had been clinging very tightly to the hope that Amanda was going to come back…

This thought reminded Gibbs why he was here. He needed to determine how Tony was coping with Amanda's death. Kaitlin was certainly Tony's saving grace in this instance, like she had been many times before in her young life.

Tony returned with Kaitlin, now in her pajamas and holding her favorite stuffed animal. He put her in the gated off area for her to play in the living room and turned tentative green eyes towards Gibbs. "Is this about my mood today?"

Gibbs swallowed but didn't show his anxiety on his face. "You seemed a bit cranky. McGee and Erin are worried about you."

"Blame Jerry," Tony said with a shrug. Their witness they had finally tracked down was a bit of a negative nelly.

"You were cranky before Jerry turned up," Gibbs pointed out.

"Well, I was sick the other day."

"Anthony—I know about Amanda. Ducky saw it in the paper."

Tony's eyes drifted towards his daughter, playing quietly with her pretend kitchen. His eyes clouded over with grief. "She felt guilty but she didn't think she could reach out to me. I told her, boss, I told her that she was always welcome in Katie's life. Why didn't she call?"

Gibbs took a deep breath. "I don't know, Tony. Depression… it's a dangerous thing. She was obviously dealing with a lot more than her guilt at leaving Kaitlin."

"I'm sorry if… I'm sorry if I wasn't on my game today, boss," Tony confessed.

"You were on your game—your professional one—but the personable one, the one that makes people love you… that was gone," Gibbs informed him. "Which is why McGee and Erin were so worried. Tim might roll his eyes at you when you joke and tease him, but the truth is, he prefers you that way—that's who you are. Not this… pensive guy."

"Da-dee," Kaitlin called to him, holding out a small, pink tea cup. "Tea?"

Tony took the small cup from her and smiled at her as he sipped his pretend tea. "Pensive," he said with a chuckle. "Guess that's a good way to put it… "

Gibbs watched as Kaitlin now handed her father plate after plate of pretend foods. "She was the mother of your child. Only natural to think about it because it will effect Kaitlin later in her life."

Kaitlin went to work on feeding her stuffed penguin next, singing as she went. Looking at this little girl no one would know that she did not have a mother in her life. She was happy, healthy and the center of her father's world.

"Perhaps, someday another woman will… step in and fill that role for her," Gibbs said, looking briefly at the lipstick stained glass.

"Ah, I see what you did there," Tony said with a chuckle when he noticed where Gibbs was looking. "Go on. Ask."

Gibbs floundered, slightly. "Are you… are you seeing someone?"

Tony grinned. "Why boss? Jealous?"

"DiNozzo."

"No. I'm not seeing anyone. The woman here tonight was an old friend from Philly."

"Old friend? Do you want it to be more than that?"

"Maybe. I don't know. She… she's really good with Kaitlin. "

Gibbs looked over at the little girl, still playing and singing away. Dating was a whole new ballgame when you added a small child to the mix. "Important to find a woman that will be."

Tony reached over the gate and stroked Kaitlin's soft hair. It was nice to see how Zoe got along with Kaitlin, and Gibbs was right, it was important that any woman he dated was good with his daughter. "We're a package deal," he finally said with a laugh.

Kaitlin yawned and turned her hazel eyes towards her father. Tony took her hint and lifted her up, letting her snuggle in his arms. She fell asleep quickly, her thumb in her mouth and her stuffed penguin underneath her arm.

"I guess I should get her to bed," Tony said, watching his daughter sleeping in his arms.

"If you need some time, DiNozzo…" Gibbs started to say.

Tony cut him off with a shake of his head and a smile. "No. I'm good now, boss. I swear."

Gibbs reached out and gave Tony's shoulder a squeeze before he left. He had a witness to get back to his house and his senior field agent had a little girl to get to bed. Tony went upstairs to Kaitlin's bedroom, laid her in her crib and gave her a kiss. It was amazing what spending the night with a beautiful woman, his daughter, and then talking to his surrogate father had done for him. Tomorrow was a brand new day and he was confident he was going to be able to face it.

* * *

"What's with the angry D.A?" Tony asked the next morning when he found Gail Walsh shouting at Gibbs.

"She wants Gibbs to release Jerry," Tim informed the senior field agent. "She also isn't happy Gibbs visited Hayes yesterday."

Tony grunted and put his bag down near his desk. He knew that going to Hayes, the man accused of killing a young woman in cold blood, was a bad idea, but in his moody state he had not spoken up. Apparently, there had been an attempt on Hayes life after Gibbs had left the prison the day before and Walsh was fit to be tied. _Glad I turned down her advances, she'd eat my daughter for breakfast.. _

Tim leapt out of the way when Walsh began to pace the squad room, demanded any new information that the team had found on her case against Hayes. With a silent look, Gibbs gave Tony permission to inform the D.A. In a flash, all the information was on the screen. "We have a witness we want to question, Smitty Brown, however, we can't find him."

Walsh blew out a heavy breath of air. "I think I can help. Guess Jerry is staying with you a little while longer, Agent Gibbs."

"Oh great," Tim mumbled underneath his breath as the D.A left. "Just what we need around here—Gloomy Gus."

"What's the matter, McGee? Is he dampening your holiday spirit?" Tony asked with a little smile.

Tim frowned at his partner. "Yes! Between him and you! It doesn't feel very holiday like around here!"

Tony's shoulders slumped. "Me?"

"Yeah! You're walking around like someone died!" Tim gasped.

"McGee," Gibbs warned, quietly shaking his head. "Enough."

Looking between the other two men, Tim suddenly realized how deep he'd put his foot into his mouth. "Oh God, someone did die, didn't they?"

Tony swallowed the lump in his throat. "Yeah," he said, hoarsely. "Amanda."

Tim blinked and everything became clear. Why Tony had missed a day of work, why his partner was so downtrodden… "Kaitlin's mother," he whispered, clarifying for Erin, who was standing by silently asking.

"Yeah. She wrapped her car around a tree," Tony said, eyes filled with agony. "Suicide. She left me.. she left me a note and some things for Katie. She felt… she felt guilty."

"Why didn't she call you?" Erin asked. "You… didn't she know you would have welcomed her into Kaitlin's life?"

"Apparently not," Tony said with a heavy sigh. He shook off the feelings of sadness. "Doesn't matter right now. Right now, we have a witness to find and figure out who wants Jerry dead. We have a job to do, let's do it."


End file.
